Mandelslo’s Travels In Western India (a.d.1638-9)

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MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN
WESTERN INDIA

J ; C^ntrif tjrt/lft

J. ALBERT de MANUKLSLC)

Prom the English edition of 1662

MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS
IN WESTERN INDIA

{A.D. 1638-9)

BY

M. S. COMMISSARIAT, M.A.

Indian Educational Scrolce; Professor
of History and Political Economy,
Gujarat College, Ahmadahad ; Fellow
of the University of Bombay

1 1
tvj Vj.'

HUMPHREY MILFORD
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS
1931

-;1 ^ '"f

PREFACE

The author owes a few words of explanation in
presenting this little book to the public in the form
in which it appears. The first English translation
of Mandelslo’s Travels^ by J. Davies, was published
in London, nearly three hundred years ago, in 1662,
and the work is at present but little known and
very rare. As the most valuable part of Mandelslo’s
refers to his tour through Gujarat, I decided
at first to give a critical summary of the same, with
extracts, in my History o; Gujarat which is in
preparation. But when completed it was found that
this account, in spite of my attempts at compression,
extended over several chapters, and took up a rather
disproportionate space in the larger historical work.
It has, therefore, been decided to publish it as a
separate book with the addition of chapters on
Mandelslo’s interesting visit to Goa, his account of
the Portuguese in Western India and his return
voyage to Europe.

Students of Indian history would naturally wish
to see a new edition of the original English text of
Mandelslo’s work, and the firm of Routledge has
already made arrangements for the publication of
this text, in its excellent series of the ‘ Broadway
Travellers ’, under the general editorship of Sir E.
Denison Ross and Miss E. Power. But it is expected
that the present work will supply a different want

vi MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

in its critical, historical and topographical remarks.
As explained in the Introduction, it includes what
is considered to be the original and authentic
portion of Mandelslo’s Travels which thus requires
to be carefully examined. All that is first-hand and
based on Mandelslo’s personal experience and
observation during the very few months that he was
in India has been incorporated in this book.

My thanks are due to Principal H. G. Rawlinson,
I.E.S., of the Deccan College, for his interest in this
book, and to the Oxford University Press for valuable
suggestions in its publication.

I hope that the map of Mandelslo’s tour and the
illustrations supplied will be appreciated by my
readers, and I also trust that this little work will
help to some extent to meet the interest, which I
notice is every year on the increase, in the history
of the province of Gujarat — a history which in the
wealth of its materials and the variety and interest of
its progress is perhaps unequalled by that of any
other province in India.

M. S. Commissariat

Gujarat College^ Ahmadabad

CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . ix

Preface to the English Edition of 1662 . . xvii

I. Mandelslo's Stay at Surat . . . . 1

11. Mandelslo’s Journey from Surat to

Ahmadabad . . . . . . . . 13

III. Mandelslo at Ahmadabad . . . . 21

IV. Mandelslo’s Visits to Azam Zhan, the

Mogul Governor at Ahmadabad . . 31

V. Mandelslo at Cambay . . . . . . 41

VI. Mandelslo’s Return Journey to Surat

AND his Last Days in Gujarat . . 50

VII. Mandelslo’s Visit to Goa . . . . 57

VIII. Mandelslo’s general Account op the

Portuguese in Goa . . . . . . 72

IX, Mandelslo’s Voyage from Ceylon to the

English Channel . . . . . . 85

X. Mandelslo’s Arrival in England and the

Last Days of his Travels . . . . 92

APPENDIXES

To Chapter

III. Shantidas Jhaveri’s Jain Temple of Chin-

TAMANI IN SARASPUR AT AhMADABAD . . 101

VII. (A) Accounts of the New College of St.

Paul given by P. Della Valle and
Dr. John Fryer . . . . . . 103

viii MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

VII. (B) Pykaed de Laval on the Chuech of

Bom Jesus, 1608-9 . . . . . . 104

(C) P. Della Valle’s Account of the Cano-

OTZATION CeEEMONIES OF St. FeANCIS
Xaviee at Goa in 1624 . . . . 104

(D) The Tomb of St. Feancis Xaviee in

THE Chuech of Bom Jesus at Goa . . 105

(E) Pyeaed de Laval’s Account of the

Royal Hospital at Goa . . . . 107

IX. William Bayley’s Account of the Home-

WAED Voyage of the ‘ Maey ’ . . 109

Index . . . . . . . . . . Ill

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1. J. Albeet de Mandelslo . . . . Frontispiece

2. Facsimile of the Title Page of ‘Mandelslo’s

TeAVBLS ’ . . . . . . . , XVII

3. Map of Mandelslo’s Toue teceough Gujaeat. . 13

4. Facade of Azam Khan’s Seeai at Ahmadabad 31

5. Fateh Wadi, oe the Gaeden of Victoey, neae

Saekhbj on the Sabaemati, Ahmadabad . . 47

6. The Chuech of Bom Jesus at Old Goa . . 66

INTRODUCTION

John Albert DE MandelsLO was a young man of
gentle birth attached as a page to the court of the
Duke of Holstein, a small principality in the north
of Germany. In 1635 the duke sent two ambas-
sadors to the courts of Muscovy (Russia) and
Persia on a commercial mission, and Mandelslo,
then only twenty years old, was at his own request
permitted to join them as an attache. After sharing
their adventures for three years, he parted company
with them at Ispahan, in Persia, in 1638, being
desirous of visiting India. Taking ship at the Per-
sian Gulf, he arrived at Surat at the end of April
1638 and passed the whole of the rainy season there.
In October he journeyed through the cities of
Gujarat to the Mogul headquarters at Agra and
Lahore. After a very brief stay at both these
capital cities, he returned to the port of Surat,
whence he sailed for England on 5 January 1639.

Adam Olearius, the secretary to the Duke of
Holstein’s embassy, was a learned person, being
librarian and mathematician to the court, and he
published in German, in 1646, an account of the
adventures of the embassy in Russia and Persia
under the title of The Travels of the Ambassadors.
The work known to students of Indian history as
Mandelslo’s Travels into the Indies has, in some of
its editions and translations, been given to the world

X MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

as a supplement to Olearius’ famous treatise and
has been bound up with it as one volume. In this
form it appears in the first English translation
published in London by John Davies in 1662.

The credit to be given to the fairly voluminous
production of Mandelslo has formed the subject
of an interesting paper by the late Dr. Vincent
A. Smith.’^ It is now clearly established that nearly
two-thirds of the work which goes under his name
is the contribution of the erudite Olearius and
of his French translator, A. de Wicquefort. Man-
delslo never went further east than India and yet
the published versions of his voyages give long
accounts of Sumatra, Java, the Moluccas, Japan and
China, none of which countries was ever visited by
him. He was also no scholar and yet his account of
his tour in India is full of elaborate dissertations
on the political, religious and social conditions of the
people. Many of these interpolations are due to the
pen of Olearius, to whom Mandelslo had entrusted
his scanty narrative with an injunction that, if it
was published, his friend ‘ would rather regard there-
in his reputation after his death than the friendship
they had promised one another’. The French
translator went even further and made large addi-
tions based on works of eastern travels available
to him.

But while admitting this, no one who has
perused the work that goes under Mandelslo’s

^ * The Credit due to Mandelslo * in T^e Journal of the Royal
Asiatic Society (1915), pp. 245-54.

INTRODUCTION

xi

name’^ can possibly deny that, so far as his stay at
Surat and his tour through the cities of Gujarat
in October 1638 are concerned, his record is
based on his own personal observations and ex-
periences, for he actually passed through the places
which he describes and enjoyed the hospitality of
both the English and Dutch merchants resident
there. This part of his narrative bears all the
impress of veracity and, when he is not an eye-
witness, he takes care to tell us that his information
was given to him by others during the journey.

The preface written by Olearius to his German
edition of Mandelslds Travels has been utilized,
but not fully reproduced, by John Davies in his
English version. But we find it printed in extenso
in the French translation published by de Wicque-
fort.® From this we obtain some very useful infor-
mation about the history of our author’s manuscript.
We are told that, on his return to Surat from
his tour in Gujarat, Mandelso made a sort of literary
testament so far as his journal was concerned.
This was dated Surat, 25 December 1638, a few days
before his ship, the Mary, left Suvali bar on her

^ * The Travels of J. Albert de Mandelslo into the East Indies^ in
Olearius^ Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors, translated into
English by John Davies, London (1662).

* The first edition of the French translation of Mandelslo's Travels
was published by Abraham de Wicquefort in 1662. The library of the
Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society possesses a valuable copy of
a later French reprint of the same entitled : Voyages ciUbres et remar^
guables fails de Perse aux Indes Orientales par le Sr. Jean- Albert de
Mandelslo, published in folio at Amsterdam in 1727.

xii MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

return voyage to Europe. With the perils of a long
sea voyage before him, Mandelslo says ;

‘ As all this has been written in haste and with-
out order, and noted only from my memory, and as
I had not the time while travelling to put it in the
required form, I warn and request my friends,
in whose hands it may fall after my death, not
to publish it lest people should take the occasion
to criticize it. But if my friends think it worth
publishing for the sake of commemorating my name,
I desire them to entrust this work to Sieur Olearius,
who was my friend and companion for four years,
and who may be found at Leipzic or at Reval or in
Livonia. Let them request him on my behalf either
to make a summary or to prepare an entire narrative
of my travels to the memory of his dear friend and
faithful companion who has finished his days in
travelling, not to derive any gain from the same, but
for the good of the public and his own pleasure. . . .
Written at Surat, 25 December 1638.’

In a postscript to the above, Mandelslo adds
that if Olearius could not be found, his friends
might entrust the work to some other capable
person ; and further expresses his desire that, as His
Highness the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp had not
only given him the opportunity of undertaking his
travels, but also furnished him with the means of
completing them, the work might be dedicated
to this prince, ‘the Maecenas of scholars,’ as a
mark of the gratitude of the author for the favours
received by him.

INTRODUCTION

xiii

Mandelslo, having happily returned to his native
country from his travels in May 1640, had an inter-
view with Olearius on the subject of the editing of
his itinerary, and it was then decided that he should
rewrite it and put it in order. Thereafter he entered
the service of the King of France as a Captain of
Cavalry under M. Josias de Rantzau, Marshal of
France, who was himself a native of Holstein.
Unfortunately, Mandelslo was destined to be cut
off in the prime of life, for, during a visit to Paris
soon after, he fell a victim to smallpox, then one of
the scourges of Europe.

After his untimely death, the manuscript of his
itinerary was found among his effects by his sister
Madam Lucy Catherine nee de Mandelslo, widow'
of the Lord of Schulenbourg. She decided, as a
pious duty, to publish this ‘ curious and useful ’
work of her brother and with this object she
approached Olearius and asked him to undertake
it, reminding him of her brother’s last wishes in
regard to the manuscript. At the same time, she
advanced him several hundred crowns to meet the
expenses of the publication in order that the work
might be completed promptly and without delay.
Mandelslo’s narrative was published in German by
Olearius at Schleswig in 1658 with a great many
additions and embellishments. According to the
author’s wishes, it was dedicated to Frederick,
Duke of Schleswig, of Holstein, of Ditmarsh, Count
of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, and to ‘ his illustri-
ous wife ’ Marie Elizabeth, of the Electoral House

xiv MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

of Saxony. The dedication was ntiade on the
duke’s sixtieth birthday, on 22 December 1657.

To Mandelslo’s sister then and to his trusted
friend Olearius is posterity indebted for preserving
for it a record of his journal. We have already
referred above to the importance and value of his
work so far as his travels in Gujarat are con-
cerned, as being an original account based on
personal observations. The same may be said
to be true in connexion with the narrative of
his visit to Goa on the west coast of India,
where the Mary, which carried our author as well
as William Methwold, the President of the Surat
factory, halted for ten days to enable the latter to
settle outstanding financial matters with the Portu-
guese authorities. Mandelslo’s account of the visit
to the Viceroy of Goa, of the great religious establish-
ments and churches of the Jesuits and of the royal
hospital in this city, is also first-hand, and we have,
therefore, given elaborate extracts from the same.
The more general account of the Portuguese in
western India, which follows the above, contains
probably much embellishment on the part of Olearius,
though it is impossible to distinguish the editor’s
contribution from the original nucleus supplied by
our author. It will not be denied, however, that
the chapters devoted by us to Goa and the Portu-
guese in this book add to and supplement the
information which is already available to us in the
works of Linschoten, Pyrard de Laval, P. Della
Valle and Dr. John Fryer. In order to complete our

INTRODUCTION

XV

survey of Mandelslo’s travels, the last two chapters
of this w'ork have been reserved for a rapid sketch
of his return voyage to Europe, his stay in England
and his journey through the Netherlands, till he
reached his native town of Gottorp in Holstein on
1 May 1640.

An attempt has been made throughout this book
to indicate, wherever possible, the various digres-
sions or additions made by Mandelslo’s German or
French editors, for these have been responsible for
the misunderstandings current among scholars
about the ‘ credibility ’ of our traveller. The perusal
of this book will, it is hoped, make it clear that it is
not quite correct to say, as the late Dr. Vincent
Smith has done, that ‘ Mandelslo’s bubble reputation
has been pricked beyond the possibility of repair ’.
It is true, indeed, that Mandelslo did not write the
voluminous work which goes under the name of his
Travels into the Indies also that he never visited
those far-eastern countries from Ceylon to China,
the accounts of which cover no less than 128 closely
printed folio pages in the first English edition of
1662. But we are entitled to say that, after all these
extensive additions or interpolations have been
carefully eliminated, a very respectable residuum
remains which is purely his original composition,
and which entitles him to a high rank among those
travellers whose itinerary was confined to a some-
what narrow region of the Indian peninsula.

We must also be careful to note that, though the
elaborate additions mentioned above are not from

xvi MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

Mandelslo’s pen, they have nevertheless a historical
importance of their own, for the information given
in them is based on the best books on eastern
travels available to Olearius or to de Wicquefort in
the middle of the seventeenth century. By far the
largest portion of the digressions refers to the lands
of the Far East and to the peoples and places on the
African coast. These accounts, therefore, deserve
to be compared with others in order to form an
estimate of their value ; and to reject them sum-
marily as interpolations and, therefore, of no value
would be a strangely narrow attitude to take up in
connexion with the use that can be made of this
material.

FACSLAIILE OP THE TITLE PAGE OP ‘ .MANDELSLO'S TRAVELS ’

PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION
OF 1662

We give below an extract from the Preface
written by John Davies, of Kidwelly, to his English
translation (from the French) of Olearius’ Voyages
and Travels of the Ambassadors published in
London in 1662.

‘To THE Reader,

‘ Mandelslo, a Gentleman well born, had his edu-
cation at the Duke of Holstein’s Court, to whom he
had been a Page. Hearing of an Embassy intended
for Muscovy and Persia, he would needs be one in it ;
and, as if he were that Virtuous Man who looks
upon the whole World as his Country, he would
not depart, ere he had obtained his Prince’s leave,
to see the other parts of Asia. During his abode at
Ispahan he got acquainted with some English
merchants who, speaking to him of the Indies,
rais’d in him a desire to go thither. The King of
Persia, to engage his stay at his Court, proffers him
a Pension of Ten Thousand Crowns; he slights
the favour of so great a Prince, gets on horseback,
with no great sums about him, and sets forward on
his Journey with a retinue of three German ser-
vants and one Persian who was to be his Guide and
Interpreter but forsook him when he stood in most
need of his service and assistance. It was also a

xviii MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

very strange Adventure which made him find civil
entertainment and hospitality at Surat; made him
subsist at the charge of others ; conducted him by
Land to the Great Mogul’s Court; brought him
safely back again to Surat ; preserv’d the ship he
was in after so many tempests near the Cape of
Good Hope ; and miraculously delivered him, at his
first arrival into England, when he was given over
for irrecoverably lost in the very haven as may be
seen near the end of his T ravels.

‘ To these Mandelslo had a particular inclination
and knew so well how to make his advantages
thereof that Olearius himself makes no difficulty to
confess that he met with, in his Notes, many things
which might have been added to his Relation and
have found a kind reception even among the more
curious had he been as forward to have his Travels
published as he had been to prosecute them. But
Mandelslo, instead of giving the world that satisfac-
tion and continuing with his friend who might
have further’d him in his design, left the Court of
Holstein, where he found not employment propor-
tionate to his merit, and betaking himself to another
Profession he got into a Regiment of horse com-
manded by a German who purely by his Military
accomplishments had rais’d himself to one of the
greatest dignities of France. He had therein the
Command of a T roop and, being a person of much
courage and endu’d with all the qualities requisite
to the making up of a great man, was likely to have
rais’d himself to a more than ordinary fortune

PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION OF 1662 xix

when coming to Paris, to pass away the Winter, he
there died of the smallpox.

‘ Being at Surat, in December 1638, he made a
kind of Will concerning his Papers, which he put
before the beginning of his Relation, wherein he
desir’d his Friend Olearius not to suffer it to be
publish’d in regard he had not had the leisure to
digest it into order, or, if he did, that he would
rather regard therein his reputation after his death
than the friendship they had mutually promis’d one
another and faithfully improv’d during the four
years of their joint Travels.

‘ Mandelslo was no great scholar but could make
a shift to understand a Latin Author which help’d
him much in the attaining of the Turkish Language
wherein he came to a considerable perfection. His
Friend taught him also the use of the Astrolabe, so
that he was able to take the Longitudes and Latitudes
that are in several places of his Book and without
which it had been impossible for him to be much
skill’d in Geography, which makes the most con-
siderable part of this kind of Relations.

‘ Olearius hath indeed been very much his Friend,
not only in reforming and refining his Style which
could not be very elegant in a person of his Pro-
fession, but also in making several observations and
additions thereto, printing it in Folio in a very fair
character, and adorning it with several pieces of
Sculpture.

‘ Olearius’s kindness to his Friend, in enriching
his Relation with many excellent remarks, taken

XX MANDELSLO'S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

out of Emanuel Osorio,^ Maffaeus,* and the chief
Voyages of the Dutch, gave the French Translator
thereof, A. de Wicquefort, occasion to augment the
said Book with whatever he found excellent in all
those who have given the best account of the East
Indies. So that it is to him we are obliged for the
exact description of the Province of Guzuratta, the
Kingdom of Pegu, and Siam, etc., the state of the
affairs of Zeilon, Sumatra, Java, the Moluccas and
Japan, as also for the Religions of these Peoples. So
that there is, in this Edition of ours, especially as to
the Travels of Mandelslo, a third part more than
there is in the largest of the German Editions.

‘ The Reader will find therein many things which
will haply seem incredible to him ; as, among others,
he may haply be astonish’d at the wealth of a
Governor of Amadabath, and at that of a King of
Indosthan, as also at the vast revenues of the
Provinces and Lords of China and Japan; but
besides that there is nothing of Romance in all this,
and that there is no comparison to be made between
the wealth of Europe and that of Asia, there are
many persons, in France and England, that will
justify our Relation, though it said much more than
it does.’

^ De Rebus Emmanuelis Lusitaniae regis virtute et auspiciis gestis^
a Hieronymo Osorio^ Lisbon (1575). Jeronymo Osorb (1506-80) was a
famom Portuguese prelate, historian and critic who acquired a European
reputation by his works in Latin. The perfection of his prose style caused
him to be named by contemporaries ‘ the Portuguese Cicero

^ Joan. Petri Maffeii Historiarum Indicarum^ Libri XVI, Cologne
(1590).

CHAPTER I

MANDELSLO’S STAY AT SURAT
(April to September 1638)

On 6 April 1638 Mandelslo embarked at Gom-
broon (Bandar Abbas), in the Persian Gulf, on a
Embark* at Small English ship, called the Sman, of
Bandar Abba* 300 tons’ displacement and carrying
for Sural twenty-four guns. The English agent

at Ispahan had given special instructions to the cap-
tain to conduct his distinguished passenger to Surat
and to defray all his charges, and four guns were
fired in Mandelslo’s honour when he boarded the
vessel, accompanied by several European and Indian
merchants whose acquaintance he had made at the
Persian port, and who came to see him off. The
voyage to Surat occupied nineteen days, during which
the captain honoured his guest by resigning his own
bed in his favour and giving him precedence on all
occasions. Mandelslo had suffered much in health
during his journeys in Persia, and soon found him-
self considerably benefited by the excellent fare
provided in the ship along with good ‘sack, English
beer, French wines, arrack and other cordials. He
specially mentions the use of tea (described as TM),
which he took twice or thrice a day, as an important
contributory factor in the recovery of his health.^

J* Ovington, who was chaplain of the English factory at Stirat in
1692-3, says that this drink was in common use in India in his time as a

2 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

This was the period when this famous beverage
was gradually making its way among the upper
classes in western Asia and Europe.

The Swan reached Surat bar on 25 April, and
four days later Mandelslo took leave of the captain
ScMchedat and sct out from Suwali for the ten
custom-houae miles’ joumcy to Surat, in company of
two English merchants who had been specially sent
down to the coast by the President to receive him.
Proceeding by boat up the Tapti river, with the
prospect of a fertile soil, fair gardens and pleasant
country-houses on both sides, the party landed not
far from the Mogul governor’s palace. They
next proceeded to the custom-house, to have
their effects searched by the officers there, ‘ which
is done with such exactness in this place that
they think it not enough to open chests and port-
mantles, but examine peoples’ clothes and pockets
It was the practice for the governor of the city to
make the passengers or merchants coming from

‘healthful beverage: ‘Tea, with some hot spice intermixt and boiled in
the water, has the repute of prevailing against the headache, gravel and
griping in the guts, and ’tis generally drunk in India, either with sugar-
candy, or, by the more curious, with small conserved lemons.* — Oving-
ton, Voyage to Stcrat^ edited by H. G. Rawlinson, p. 181,

^ Sir Thomas Roe, who arrived at Surat at the end of 1615 as
ambassador for King James to the court of the great Mogul, had to
oppose a similar demand. The officials who were escorting him from the
port of Suwali to the city claimed the right to search the persons of the
members of his suite, though he himself was exempted by virtue of his
high position. The following extract from the entry made by Roe in his
journal is interesting :

‘ Then they began a new tune, that I would be pleased to be content
that all my company might be searched, according to the custom of the
country. I replied that I was the Ambassador of a mighty and free

3

MANDELSLO’S STAY AT SURAT

foreign ports part with any commodity for which he
took a fancy at the price which he thought fit to-
put upon it. On this occasion also, we are told that
the governor came to the custom-house as soont
as Mandelslo had reached it and, in spite of the
young German’s protests, he persisted in taking;
away a bracelet of yellow amber which he found in
the baggage, promising to return it later.

Leaving the governor to enjoy this rarity,
Mandelslo entered an Indian coach, drawn by two

He become* the oxcn, which the English Presi-

gne*i of the dent had sent to bring him to his
English factory house. Mcthwold was the head of the
factory at this period and received the traveller
with great kindness, his knowledge of Dutch help-
ing to make the conversation easy. He told his
guest that, as the rains would be setting in, no more
ships were expected to arrive from Europe and that
Mandelslo would have to postpone his intention of
returning to Germany until the fair season. He
promised, however, that if his guest would stay
with him for five or six months, he would do all he
could for his diversion and make arrangements for
him to visit the most famous places in the country.
Mandelslo gratefully accepted this advice and offer

Prince : that I would never dishonour my Master so much, whose Person
I bare, as to subject myself to so much slavery : I would engage my
Honour (which I esteemed as my life) that no follower of mine had the
worth of a of trade or merchandise : and that in Europe and most
parts of Asia all Ambassadors and their trains were so fax privileged as
not to be subject to common and barbarous visage/— Fm^assy of
Sir Thomas Roe to India^ edited by Wm. Foster, Hakluyt Society, vol. I,
pp. 47-48.

4 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

and, having been shown all over the house, he
selected for himself a chamber adjoining that of the
senior officer after the President, who was known
as his second. In the evening, several of the English
factors came to convey him to the supper-hall, where
were assembled the minister to the factory with
about a dozen merchants. They all sat down to
dinner, with the exception of the President and his
second, and were served with about fifteen or sixteen
dishes of meat, besides the dessert.^ When this
was over, the chaplain took the visitor to a great
open terrace, or gallery, where sat every night the
President, his second, the principal merchant, the
minister and Mandelslo to enjoy the cool breezes
from the sea. The other factors did not attend un-
less specially invited by the President.

Mandelslo lays special stress on the great respect
in which the President was held by everyone in
An account of English house at Surat, and the

the life of the Order and regularity that prevailed in
Engiiih merchants matters. Divine service was held
twice a day, at six in the morning and at eight
o’clock at night. On Sundays, service was held
three times. Everyone had his particular duties
assigned to him and his hours fixed both for work
and for recreation. A special function is men-

^ Ovtagton, in his Voyage to Surat (pp. 230-1) gives a long and
interesting account of the ' public ’ table at the English Factory, when all
the factors sat down with the President and Senior Merchants, and dined
off dishes of pure, massive silver, containing viands prepared by three
different cooks— English, Portuguese and Indian— and drank the most
expensive wines from Europe

MANDELSLO’S STAY AT SURAT 5

tioned by Mandelslo, which illustrates the home
longings which those early English merchants
settled in India must have felt in days when it took
nearly a year to receive news from the mother
country. On every Friday, after prayers, a meeting
took place, attended by the President and three
other merchants who were related to him and who
had all left their wives in England. This day of the
week being that of their departure from England,
they had appointed it as a commemoration day on
which they drank their wives’ healths. Mandelslo
was invited to join these select meetings and tells
us that some of the merchants took advantage of
them to drink more than they could well carry,
probably to drown their regrets.

The English at Surat owned a fair garden out-
side the town, to which all the factors resorted on
Their diversion. Sundays after the sermon and some-
at Surat timcs On Other days of the week. It

is probable that the whole day was spent in this
garden in various enjoyments. One of these was
shooting at butts or targets, at which Mandelslo
showed himself so expert that he was able to pocket
a hundred maAmudis, or five pounds sterling,
every week. This was followed by a collation of
fruit and preserves, after which they bathed in a
tank, or cistern, with water in it five feet deep, when
some Dutch gentlewomen ‘ served and entertained
them with much civility ’. Mandelslo’s very limited
knowledge of the English tongue, however, pre-
vented him from enjoying the full pleasure of these

6 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

picnics, for he could converse freely only with the
President who knew Dutch.

In a short account of the Mogul Empire and of
its provinces which Olearius gives for the benefit

Guiarai the readers at this stage in the

noblest province travels, we are told that the province
of the Mogul of Gujarat was improperly called by
the Portuguese the ‘ Kingdom of
Cambay ’ from its chief city where they had their
principal trading and that it was ‘without all question
the noblest and most powerful of all the Mogul’s
country.’ ‘ There is no province in all the Indies,’ he
adds, ‘ more fertile than Gujarat, nor any that affords
more fruits and provisions which grow in such
abundance there that all the neighbouring provinces
are thence supplied ’.^

One of the most important historical references
made by Mandelslo is where he mentions the
Reference to terrible Gujarat famine of 1630-1,
great famine which was long remembered in the

of 1630-1 province as the satyasio kal?' It must

be regarded as a conclusive proof of the credibility
of our traveller and his exact information so far as

1 Mandelslo, Travels, London (1662) pp. 20-22.

® Very full and graphic accounts of this terrible calamity which
desolated the province of Gujarat, plunged some of its people into can-
nibalism, and set back production for a whole decade, are available in a
number of contemporary works. See Peter Mundy, Travels in India^
Hakluyt Society, vol. II, pp. 43, 44, 262, 265, 266, 275, 276 ; Mnglish
Factories in India, edited by Foster, 1630-3 ; Elliot and Dowson, History
of India, vol. VII, p. 24 ; and the account of the Dutch merchant, van
Twist, in Moreland, From Akbar to Aurangazib, pp. 21-23.

An exhaustive chapter has been devoted to this subject in the author’s
History of Gujarat which is in preparation.

MANDELSLO’S STAY AT SURAT 7

this province is concerned. When writing of the
fertility of Gujarat and the abundance of provisions
which it supplied at the time, he is reminded of the
grievous calamity through which the country had
passed some years before his arrival. His remarks
deserve to be quoted :

‘ It is true, indeed, that in the year 1630 the
great drought and the year following the continued
rains reduced it to so deplorable a condition that
the particular accompt (that) might be given thereof
would deprive the Reader of the diversion which it
is our design to find him in this Relation. But the
province hath since that time well recovered itself
of that desolation, yet not so as but the marks of it
may be seen everywhere

In June 1638, Mandelslo went out hunting with
a young Dutch merchant and another who was an
Vi.it to Ranaer, Englishman, and crossing the river
Daitiri and arrived at Rander® which he describes
other village. period as an old ruined

city where the Dutch had a warehouse. The inhabi-
tants whom he calls Naites (Navayats)® were either
mariners or tradesmen professing the Muslim reli-

^ Mandelslo, op. dt, p. 22.

^ Rander, situated on the right bank of the Tapti, about two miles
above Surat, is admitted to be one of the oldest dties in southern
Gujarat. In 1530, Rander was sacked and burned by the Portuguese
general, Antonio da Silveira, after a brave but unavailing defence by
its warlike Moslem population. The town never recovered from this
blow, while Surat, which had also been plundered, recovered and soon
took the place of its Bombay Gazetteer ^ vol. 11, pp. 299, 300 and n,

® Navayat is probably derived from the Sanskrit nava-ayata meaning
' new-comers From the first quarter of the thirteenth century, the andent

8 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

gion. At the village of Damri he drank of
some toddy or palm-wine in the orthodox fashion
in cups made of leaves. The method of extracting
the liquid from the trees is the same to-day as it was
three hundred years ago. ‘ To get out the juice,’
says our traveller, ‘ they go up the top of the tree,
where they make an incision in the bark and fasten
under it an earthen pot which they leave there all
night, in which time it is filled with a certain sweet
liquor very pleasant to the taste. They get out
some also in the day time, but that corrupts
immediately and is good only for vinegar which is
all the use they make of it.”'

Mandelslo next turns to describe the city of
Surat in which he stayed for fully five months
Sunt detcribed: before proceeding on his tour to the
ito gates, houses north at the end of the rainy season,
and port town had three gates, one of

which led to Cambay and Ahmadabad after crossing
the river, the second led to Burhanpur, and the
third to Navsari. The entrance to the castle had a
spacious maidan in front of it. Near by were the
governor’s palace and the custom-house and adjoin-

town of Rander had been dominated by a race of foreign Muhammadans
who were called Navayats. These immigrants were Arabs from Kufa»
who, being Shiahs, were persecuted by the orthodox Sunnis, and fled
from their native country to India where they settled at various places on
the west coast. According to tradition they overpowered the Jain
population of Rander and became its rulers. Being active navigators they
became in coi^e of time wealthy and successful merchants. The
Navayats have long ceased to be of importance at Rander and their
place as traders has been taken by Bohras of the Sunni sect . — The Book
of Duarte Barbosa^ edited by Dames, vol. I, pp. 146, 147 and n.

^ Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 23.

MANDELSLO’S STAY AT SURAT 9

ing these was the bazaar for foreign as well as
local merchants. The Mogul governor in charge
of the castle was independent of that of the city. It
was the business of the latter to administer justice
and look after the customs on goods exported and
imported. The duty was three and a half per cent
ad valorem on all commodities, except on gold and
silver, whether in coins or in bars, which paid two
per cent only. The spacious and well-built houses
belonging to the Dutch and English companies
were called lodges. The harbour of Surat was at the
village of Suwali, where foreign ships unloaded, the
goods being then conveyed to the city by land. ‘ It
is very safe riding,’ says Mandelslo of Suwali bar,

‘ there being no danger of any wind but that of
the south-west. But from May to September, there
is no staying on those coasts, by reason of the
winds and tempests, accompany’d by extraordinary
thunder and lightning which reign there during
all that time.’^

In his description of the population of Surat>
Mandelslo says that the Moguls in the city were
The Mo»iem looked Upon with more respect than
inhabitant* Were the Banyas or Brahmins because
of their religion which was that professed by the
Great Mogul himself, as also on account of their
capacity to bear arms. They had, however, an
aversion to trade and business and preferred service
to any honourable profession, ‘for if they can but
once get to be masters of a horse they court fortune

^ Mandelslo, op. dt,, p. 23.

10 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

no further and immediately lift themselves in the
service of their Prince.’^ The Banyas, on the other
hand, were a hard-working class, attached to trade
and merchandise, with an extraordinary devotion
towards religious matters.

Among the foreigners resident at Surat were
Arabs, Persians, Armenians, Turks and Jews, but
Surat, the these classes had such large

headquarter* of and Wealthy Settlements as had the
Eugii.h trade English Settled at

Surat. These two nations had their lodges, their
store-houses, their presidents, their merchants and
their secretaries, so that they made the place ‘ one
of the most eminent cities for traffic of all the
East ’. Surat was in particular the headquarters of
all the English factories throughout the Indies. The
President managed the affairs of the East India
Company with the help of twenty or twenty-four
merchants and officers, and had under his superin-
tendence the factories at Agra, Ispahan, Masuli-
patam, Cambay, _Ahmadabad, Baroda, Broach, and
Dabul in the Konkan. The secretaries in charge of
these subordinate factories had to come once in a
year to Surat and give an account of their
administration to the President. The factory at
Bantam in the isle of Java had no doubt its own
President, who had no dependence on that of Surat.
But even he observed a certain deference towards
the latter, and so did the captains of all the English
ships coming to the east, for no ship would consider

^ Maadelslo, op. cit., p. 24.

11

MANDELSLO’S STAY AT SURAT

its voyage complete until it had cast anchor at Surat.

After declaring that ‘ the places about this city
are the most delightful of any in the world
The famous Mandelslo refers to a tank or cistern
Gopi Taiav > made eight square of freestone’,
which was evidently the famous Gopi Taiav. It was
so spacious that it contained enough water to
supply the whole city even in the hottest months of
the year. The tank had at every angle a series of
steps leading to the water and in its centre stood a
pleasure house which the traveller describes as the
‘ tomb ’ of the builder of this magnificent structure.^

In the middle of September, news came of the
arrival of two English ships at Suwali bar and as
Arrival of ship* the President had some business of
from Europe importance with the governor, he
sent two of the leading merchants along with
Mandelslo to give them a welcome. They were all
treated hospitably on both the vessels and on the
first day of their arrival the better part of the night
was spent in obtaining news of the affairs of
Europe. When the President reached Suwali after
about eight days, the two commanders of the ships
and the others went out to honour him, at which
interview the latter ‘ made a short discourse to them,
exhorting them to show their fidelity and compliance

* For the history of the Gopi Taiav see Bombay Gazetteer^ voL II,
p. 312, * Stirat and Broach’, It was constructed in the early part of the
sixteenth century by a Brahmin, named Malik Gopi, who was a high
officer of Sultan Muzaffar II of Gujarat (1511-25). Malik Gopi is d escribed
by the Portuguese as Lord of Surat and Broach . — Travels of P. Della
VallCi vol. I, p. 34 and n.

12 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

to their superiors during the time they should stay
in the Indies.’ On the President next proceeding to
one of the ships, he was received with a salute of
twelve guns, and subsequently on going to the
other they fired sixteen guns.

Though the rainy season was now over,
Mandelslo was informed that the English ships in
Manaei.io leave* which he proposed to return to Europe
Surat for would not be ready for departure in

Ahraadabad three or four months. He

therefore accepted the advice of the President to
join a caravan that was proceeding to Ahmadabad
and thus acquaint himself with the Mogul’s
country. His stay of five months at Surat with the
English factors had proved a very enjoyable one
and he says that he ‘ wanted for no divertisment ’.
The Dutch President at Surat had his family with
him and the German traveller spent much time
with them, especially because he could converse
there in his own tongue.^

^ The chief of the Dutch factory in Surat at this period was Barent
Pieterszoo]Q.-~-^«l^/w/^ Factories (1637-41) edited by W. Foster, p. 240.

CHAPTER II

MANDELSLO’S JOURNEY FROM
SURAT TO AHMADABAD

(30 September to 12 October 1638)

The kafila, or caravan, which Mandelslo joined at
Surat on the last day of September 1638, was sent
Caravan English President to Ahmad-

»ent by the abad, and consisted of thirty wagons
Engiuh from laden with quicksilver, spices and a
“ considerable sum of money. The

President had appointed four English merchants, a
number of Banyas, twelve English armed soldiers
and as many Indians, for conducting the same in
safety. The young German traveller was thus
assured that he could undertake the journey without
any danger from the Rajputs who frequented the
country and lived as robbers. These are described
by Mandelslo’s English translator as ‘ Tories or
highwaymen’' who had their haunts in the moun-
tains of Champaner and who often dared to insult
the might of the Great Mogul from their fortified

^ The sentence in Davieses translation of Mandelslo is as follows :
* These Rasboutes are a sort of Highwaymen, or Tories, who keep in
the mountains between Brodra (Baroda) and Broitschia (Broach).^

' Tory * is the anglicized spelling of an Irish word which means either
a pursuer, or a pursued or persecuted person. In the seventeenth century
the term was applied to designate one of the dispossessed Irish who became
outlaws and subsisted by plundering and killing the English settlers and
soldiers. The word was then extended to mean robbers or bandits of other

14 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

retreats in the hills. The President himself and
several of the factors accompanied their noble guest
to a distance of a league (or about three miles) from
the city, where they took leave of him.

The caravan proceeded from Surat to Broach,
passing through Kathodra,^ which is described as a
.. , . , .t- j ruined place seated upon a river of

Mandelslo find* ^ xt a i i

some good game the sainc name. Near Ankleswar, a
near Ankicwar good bag was secured by Mandelslo
consisting of more than thirty wild duck and other
waterfowl. T|ie party also killed a roebuck and
met with so many deer and wild pigs that there was
no’ difficulty in providing themselves with good
meals on the journey, the game being dressed by
the cooks who accompanied them. Crossing the
Narmada, they entered the city of Broach where the
English agent or secretary invited them to dinner.

Broach is described as a city standing upon a
pretty high mountain, surrounded by walls of free-
Broach stone, ‘ and so well built that it may

described bg numbered amongst the strongest

places of all the Indies ’. It had two large gates on
the land side and two small ones towards the river,
through which a great quantity of timber came into
the town from distant parts. There was a Mogul

races, such as Border Moss-troopers, Scottish Highlanders and Rajput
marauders or outlaws. The use of the word in this sense by J. Davies in
1662 in his translation of Mandelslo is quoted in the Oxford English
Dictionary^ vol. X, part 1, p. 171. Under Charles 11 the word * Tory * came
first to be applied as a nickname to the royalist opponents of the Exclu-
sion BiU (1681).

^ Kathodra is a small place in the Broach district, about nine miles
south-west of Ankleswar.

FROM SURAT TO AHMADABAD

15

guard or garrison posted in the fort, partly because
of its military importance and also to collect the
customs duty of two per cent upon all commodities
that entered this port. The majority of the inhabit-
ants were weavers who produced the famous bctftas
for which Broach was famous and which were ‘ finer
than any made in the province of Gujarat’.’' The
lands round about the city were very fertile, yielding
rice, wheat, barley and cotton in great abundance.
In the mountains to the south-east of the town,
which extended beyond Burhanpur, were found the
agates from which were made the beautiful drinking
cups, seals, handles for knives and daggers, and
other rarities which were commonly manufactured
in and sold at Cambay.® Eight leagues or about
twenty-two miles further on from Broach, on the
road leading to Cambay, stood the large village of
Jambusar, famous for its great production of indigo,
an industry which flourished at this place right up
to the end of the eighteenth century.®

The English agent at Broach was also in charge
of the factory at Baroda and, having some business

Arrival at Baroda:^^ *0^0. he nOW aCCOm-

entertainment panied the caravan. The johrney was
mostly done during the night, owing
to the increasing heat, and the kafila arrived at

* Mandelslo, op. p. 26. JBafia fe derived from tlie Persian
baftan^ to weave.

* The agates and cornelians were found in the hills near Ratanpur
in the present Rajpipla State.

* Bombay Gazetteer^ vol. 11, p, 564, * Surat and Broach \ Jambusar
is now a large town in the Broach district situated about five miles north
of the Dhadhar river.

16 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

Baroda on 7 October. Here Mandelslo was enter-
tained at a pleasant country-house where the Eng-
lish agent lived and which was originally a
mausoleum. To add to his guest’s enjoyment, the
agent sent for some Hindu dancing girls who, says
the traveller, ‘ were very desirous to see my clothes
which I still wore after the German fashion, though
the English and Dutch, who are settled in the
Indies, go ordinarily according to the mode of the
country and would have obliged me to put them
off ; but perceiving I was unwilling to do it, they
seemed to be very much troubled and so went
away.’ ^ This reference is interesting, for it is not a
generally accepted fact that the English and Dutch
merchants settled in Gujarat adopted the ordinary
dress of the country. Baroda was at this time
fortified with good walls and bastions and had five
gates, one of which was closed up as there was no
high road leading from it. The inhabitants were
mostly Hindus engaged in weaving, dyeing, etc.,
The flourishing village of Sankheda’^ situated
twenty-two miles from Baroda, yielded annually
Lac industry 25,000 pounds of lac, a commodity
in Gujarat which appears to have been produced

in large quantities all over Gujarat at this period.®

^ Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 27.

^ Mandelslo describes the place as * Sindickera, eight leagues from
the city This is probably the present town of Sankheda in the sub-
division of the same name in the Baroda State, separated from Bahadur-
pur by the river Or. There is an old fort at Sankheda.

* The name * lac ’ is applied to the resinous incrustation formed on the
bark of twigs of certain trees, by the action of the lac-insect, Coccus lacca
(Watts, Dictionary of the Economic Products of India^ vol. IV, p. 570).

I

I

i

I

FROM SURAT TO AHMADABAD 17

Lac is described as being of a red-brown colour in
its natural state. But when well dried and beaten to
powder, the people could give it any colour they liked
— black, red, green, yellow, etc. Besides being used
extensively as sealing-wax, it was also employed for
adorning and beautifying household furniture, such as
chests, cabinets, tables, bedsteads, etc., giving to the
articles such lustre as no one at the time could ever
imitate in Europe, especially upon a black ground.^
After leaving Baroda, Mandelslo proceeded with
the caravan and reached the fort of Vasad* which
The Mogul describes as an old castle, partly

garrison at Vasad ruincd, built Upon a mountain. Here
demands a toll stationed a Mogul garrison of a

hundred horse, with permission to levy an impost of
a rupee and a half, or about four shillings, on every
waggon that passed by. But the English who led
the caravan had obtained a passport from the Mogul
officers by virtue of which they had been exempted
from this levy. When the garrison stopped some of
their carts in order to compel payment, the armed
convoy opposed it and forced a passage through.
Crossing the Mahi, the caravan encamped in a village
on the opposite side of the river and made a barricade
with the help of the carts to secure itself against a
sudden attack. The same night, before the English
had finished their supper, the leader of the Vasad

^ Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 27,

^ Vasad Is a small place in the Kaira district on the main railway
line from Bombay, twelve miles to the north of Baroda. It is situated on
the Mahi which can be forded at this place. There are now no si^ns of
any old castle or fortification.

3

18 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

garrison arrived with some thirty soldiers armed
with pikes, swords, bucklers and guns, and desired
an interview. He was permitted to come in accom-
panied by only three others and in reply to his
demands was informed that the Mogul pass freed
them from the duty, but that the English would
make a free present of five or six rupees to show
their goodwill. This offer was not accepted and
the ‘ receiver ’ went away with the intention of
returning the next morning.

Meanwhile a Dutch merchant, who was conduct-
ing a caravan of one hundred and seventy waggons,
guarded by fifty Indian soldiers, arrived at the
village and informed the English party that the
soldiers belonging to the garrison had felled a great
tree and had placed it across the road with the object
of preventing their passage onward. It appeared that
a stiff conflict would follow and there was actually
some firing on both sides. Finding, however, that
their opponents were at an advantage, those of the
castle at last decided to come to a compromise
and, making the Dutch merchant their intermediary,
they represented to the English that they received
no other pay than what they received from the tax
on the merchandise passing that way and that, if
they did not force merchants to pay this duty, there
would be no means of subsistence left to them.
They also declared their willingness to accept
half the amount of the duty, but finding that this
would not be forthcoming, they at last consented to
take what had been originally offered, namely six

FROM SURAT TO AHMADABAD

19

rupees. The English were also very pleased with
this amicable settlement as the numbers against
them had increased to one hundred and, what was
worse, the Indian sepoys whom they had engaged
in the caravan refused to take up arms against the
King’s soldiers as unlawful and declared that their
duty was to defend the caravan only against robbers
who might attack it on the way. The incident,
though of no historical importance, is nevertheless
of great interest as it throws some interesting side-
light on the conditions of travel in the Mogul
Empire in the early part of the seventeenth century.

The caravan continued its progress northwards
and passing by the village of Sojitra’' arrived at
From Sojitra to Nadiad, a centre for the production
Ahmadabaa Qf cottons and indigo. The next
stage was Mahmudabad on the Vatrak river where
the Banya population made a large quantity of cotton
thread. Proceeding thence through Kanij, Vatva and
Isanpur, at which last place there was a very fine
caravanserai, it. at last reached Ahmadabad, ‘ the
metropolis of all Guzuratta,’ on 12 October 1638.
The journey of about one hundred and fifty miles
from Surat had been accomplished within a period
of twelve days.

Mandelslo proceeded a little in advance of the
kafila and reached a garden, about a mile and a half
English agent at outside the Capital, which was prob-
the capital wei- ably the Kankaria T ank and sent
comes Mandelslo ^Qj-d to the English agent at Ahmad-

^ Sojitra is a town in the Petlad snb-division of the Baroda State*

20 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

abad of his arrival. The agent’s name was Benjamin
Roberts^ and, on the information reaching him, he
came up with his coach to receive his guest. It was
a splendid equipage, gilt all over, covered with
several pieces of rich Persian tapestry and drawn by
two white oxen ‘ which expressed as much metal
as we could have expected from the best horses in
Germany.^ By the side of the coach was led a very
stately Persian horse, its harness being covered with
plates of silver. After partaking of a collation of
the little sack and English beer that was left with
Mandelslo, Roberts took him in the coach and
brought him into the city.

^ Benjamin Robinson, not ‘ Roberts’ as Mandelslo mentions, was chief
of the English factory at Ahmadabad for several English

Factories (1637-41) edited by Wm. Poster, pp, 91, 225, 274.

® Mandelslo, op, cit„ p. 29, The fine breed of Gujarat oxen was for
centuries noted for its white colour, size and handsome appearance. Abul
Fazl says that the Gujarat cattle were considered to be the finest in India
and that a yoke of them was sometimes worth 100 mohurs. The best
Gujarat oxen exceeded even swift horses in speed, for they could travel
120 miles in 24 hours. Akbar once bought a pair of cows for two lakhs
of dams or 5,000 rupees. — Blochmann, Ain-i-Ahdari, vol. I, p. 149,

CHAPTER III

MANDELSLO AT AHMADABAD
(October 1638)

The English factory, or lodge, at Ahmadabad was in
the heart of the city, well-built, with many fine

MandeUio at the ^P^’^’^ents and spacious courts for
Engiuh factory the Storing of merchandise. ‘ Master ’
in Ahmadabad Roberts first brought his guest into
his own chamber which overlooked a little flower
garden with a fountain in it. The floor of this room
was covered with tapestry and the pillars set out with
silk stuffs of diverse colours, and above hung a
large white tassel, as was customary in the houses
of the great ones of the country. A spacious room
was assigned to Mandelslo for his lodging. Supper
was served in a great hall and, when it was
over, the Dutch deputy in the city called with
some of his merchants to see the visitor. After
they had left, the whole company conducted the
guest to his chamber, where Roberts kept him
company till midnight. The warmth of the welcome
could not be considered complete until six women
dancers, the handsomest that could be found in the
city, were sent for to entertain the guest. ‘ They
admired my clothes,’ writes Mandelslo, ‘ but, above
all, that lock of my hair that hung down over my

22 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

shoulders ; and could hardly be induced to believe
I was what I really am.’ ^

After resting for two days, the English agent
took his guest in a coach to show to him some of
Maidan Shah the sights of Ahmadabad, at that time
or royal square Q^g of the proudest Capitals of the
Mogul Empire. They first came to the great market
place which was called the Maidan Shah, or the
royal square and which extended in front of the
main gate of the Bhadra citadel. The account left
of this park by Mandelslo deserves to be quoted to
show how the present condition of the area contrasts
with the lovely surroundings of three centuries ago :

‘ The Maidan Shah, or the king’s market, is at
least 1,600 feet long and half as many broad and be-
set all about with rows of Palm-trees and Date-trees,
intermixed with Citron-trees and Orange-trees,
whereof there are very many in the several streets ;
which is not only very pleasant to the sight, by the
delightful prospect it affords, but also makes the
walking among them more convenient by reason of
the coolness. Besides this Maidan, there are in the
city four Bazaars, or public places, where are sold
all kinds of merchandise.’ *

* Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 29. See Mandelslo^s picture (Frontispiece)
with the long locks so familiar to the Stuart period.

* Mandelslo, op. cit., pp. 29, 30. Compare with this Thevenot’s account
of the Maidan of Ahmadabad as seen in 1666, about thirty years after
Mandelslo's visit: ^ Going from their (Dutch) Lodgings, one enters by these
high Arches (Three Gates) into the Maidan-Shah^ which signihes the
king’s square. It is a long square having four hundred paces in breadth,
and seven hundred in length, with trees planted on all sides. The Gate of
the Castle is on the west side, opposite to the three Arches and the Gate of

MANDELSLO AT AHMADABAD 23

The Bhadra castle was next visited and it is
described as one of the most considerable in the
TheBhadra castle whole kingdom. Insidc the enclosure
and the royal was the royal palace built of brick,
palace within It jts gate was a stage or curtain

in which sat the musicians with their violins, oboes
and bagpipes, which played four times a day, in the
morning, at noon, in the evening and at midnight, as
was thecustom in Persia and all other countries under
Moslem rule. All the apartments of the palace were
sumptuous, being gilt and adorned with painting,
‘ but more to their satisfaction who are pleased with
diversity of colours, than theirs who look for inven-
tion and stand upon the exactness of proportions.’
After the inspection of the castle, they proceeded
outside the town to see the imposing city walls
which had twelve gates and were surrounded by a
ditch sixteen fathoms broad. This was, however, in
ruins in many places and without water.

The next monument visited was the great Jain
temple built only a few years before by Shantidas
Shantida.’ Jain Jhaveri,^ one of the wealthiest men of
temple at Gujarat in his day and high in favour

Saratpur Shah Jahan and after him

the Quervasaray on the south. On the same side are six or seven pieces
of cannon mounted and on the other some more gates which are at the
head of pretty fair streets. In this Maidan there are several little square
buildings about three fathom high, which are Tribunals for the Kotwal
who is the criminal judge. In the middle of the place there is a very high
Tree, purposely planted for the exercise of those who learn to shoot with
the bow and who with their arrows strive to hit a ball which for that end
is placed on the top of the Tree.* — M. de Thevenot, Travels into the
Indies^ translated by Lovell, London (1687) p. 9.

^ See Appendix I.

24 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

with Aurangzeb. The temple was situated outside
the city to the east beyond the suburb of Saraspur ;
but even its ruins have now practically disappeared,
the whole area being occupied by miserable dwell-
ings peopled by factory hands. In 1638, however,
when Mandelslo visited the place, this temple which
he calls ‘ the principal mosque of the Banyas ’ was
in all its pristine splendour and ‘ without dispute one
of the noblest structures that could be seen’. ‘It
was then new,’ he adds, ‘ for the Founder, who was
a rich Banya merchant, named Shantidas, was
living in my time.’^

As Mandelslo’s description is the earliest account
we have of this famous monument, which was
The great dcsccrated only seven years after his
temple deicribed yigjt; by ^^6 Orders of Aurangzeb,
then viceroy of Gujarat (1645),“ we shall reproduce
it at some length. It stood in the middle of a great
court which was enclosed by a high wall of freestone.
All about this wall on the inner side was a gallery,

* Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 30.

* The French traveller, M. de Thevenot, who visited the capital of
Gujarat in 1666, says : * Ahmadabad being inhabited also by a great
number of Heathens, there are Pagods or Idol-Temples in it. That which
was called the Pagod of Shantidas was the chief, before Aurangzeb
converted it into a mosque. When he performed that ceremony, he
caused a cow to be killed in the place, knowing very well that, after such
an action, the Gentiles according to their Law, could worship no more
therein, . . , The inside roof of the mosque is pretty enough, and the
walls are full of the figures of men and beasts ,* but Aurangzeb, who
hath always made a show of an affected devotion, which at length
raised him to the Throne, caused the noses of all these figures, which
added a great deal of magnificence to that Mosque, to be beat off/
— Thevenot, Travels into the IndieSy London (1687) p. 10.

MANDELSLO AT AHMADABAD

25

similar to the cloisters of the monasteries in Europe,
with a large number of cells, in each of which was
placed a statue in white or black marble. These
figures no doubt represented the Jain Tirthankars,
but Mandelslo may be forgiven when he speaks of
each of them as ‘ representing a woman naked, sitting,
and having her legs lying cross under her, accord-
ing to the mode of the country’/ Some of the cells
had three statues in them, namely, a large one
between two smaller ones.’® At the entrance to the
temple stood two elephants of black marble in life-
size and on one of them was seated an effigy of the
builder. The walls of the temple were adorned with
figures of men and animals. At the further end of
the building were the shrines consisting of three
chapels divided from each other by wooden rails. In
these were placed marble statues of the Tirthankars
with a lighted lamp before that which stood in the
central shrine. One of the priests attending the
temple was busy receiving from the votaries flowers
which were placed round the images, as also oil for
the lamps that hung before the rails, and wheat and
salt as a sacrifice. The priest had covered his mouth
and nose with a piece of linen cloth so that the
impurity of his breath should not profane the images.

Mandelslo^ op. cit., p. 30.

* According to Jain iconography, the images of the Tirthankars are
placed on highly scnlptured thrones and surrounded by other smaller atten-
dant figures. At the right of the Jina is a male figure representing
the Yg^sha attendant or servant of that particular Jina; at the left end of
the throne is the corresponding female, or Yakshini, Yakshi or Sasana-
devi ; whilst in a panel in the middle there is often another devi. — ^Buhler
and Burgess, The Indian Sect of the Jainas^ pp. 62-63,

26 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

Mandelslo next gives us a description of Ahmad-
abad and an account of the principal commodities to
Ahmadabad. a ^>0 found there. It was a great and
great commercial populous city, seven leagues, or about
emporium twenty miles, in compass including the
suburbs and the adjacent villages. The streets were
very broad, and the public and private buildings
magnificent, especially the mosques and the residence
of the provincial governor. A guard was kept in
the city day and night and it had a considerable
garrison. But Ahmadabad was unsurpassed at the
time as a commercial emporium. ‘ There is not,’ says
Mandelslo, ‘ in a manner any nation, nor any mer-
chandise in all Asia, which may not be had at
Ahmadabad, where particularly there are made
abundance of silks and* cotton stuffs. . , . They
also make there great quantities of gold and silver
brocades, but they put too much thin lace into
them, so that in goodness and substance they come
not near those of Persia, though some of them
amount in the country to eighteen crowns the piece.’

This testimony to the excellence of the silk
manufactures of Ahmadabad is confirmed by the
Silk niore elaborate references to the same

numufactures by the French traveller, Tavernier, a
of the city generation later.® At the time when
Mandelslo was there, a new kind of cloth was just
beginning to be manufactured. It was a mixture of
silk and cotton interwoven with flowers of gold.

^ Mandelslo, op. cit, p. 31.

® Tavernier, Travels in India, translated by Ball, vol. II, p, 3.

MANDELSLO AT AHMADABAD

27

which was very highly esteemed and sold at five
crowns per ell.^ But the inhabitants were forbidden
to wear it because the emperor had reserved the
same for his own special use. It was, however,
permissible for foreigners to buy it on condition
that it was to be transported out of the Mogul
empire. The other varieties of silks produced at
Ahmadabad at this time were satins, velvets of all
sorts of colours, taffetas and carpets on grounds of
gold, silk or cotton.®

Among the other articles of commerce, besides
silk and cotton cloths, to be commonly obtained in
Other commodi- t^is city were sugar, whether as candy
ties exchanged or in powder, cummin, honey, lac,
at Ahmadabad opium, borax, ginger, myrabolams,

saltpetre, sal ammoniac and indigo. Besides these,
musk and ambergris® were also available in this
capital, though they were not produced in Gujarat,
but obtained from other parts. Ambergris was sold
at forty mahimidis^ or eight crowns per ounce and
it came from Pegu and Bengal or from Mozambique
and Cape Verd. Mandelslo makes special reference

^ An ell is a cloth measure equal to one and a quarter yards,

^ Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 31.

* Ambergris (grey amber) is a substance of the consistence of
wax found floating in the Indian Ocean and other parts of the tropics,
and also as a morbid secretion in the intestines of the sperm whale which
is believed to be in all cases its true origin. It is highly valued in perfu-
mery.

^ The mahmudi was a silver coin, first minted in the reign of Sultan
Mahmud I Begada (1458-1511), which was current in Gujarat for several
centuries. The weight and value underwent frequent changes, but it may
roughly be placed at equivalent to about half a rupee. For a full account
of the history of this coin see Ep, Ind.y vol. IV, No. 42.

28 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

to the facility with which bills of exchange could be
secured at Ahmadabad by merchants, the Banya
shroffs having their correspondents in all parts of
Asia, as also at Constantinople in Europe. This
convenience was of the greatest advantage to
traders in view of the terror of the Rajputs and
others who infested the highways and made travel-
ling very unsafe, in spite of all the expense under-
taken by the Mogul power to maintain a con-
siderable number of soldiers particularly for the
safety of travellers. We are told that merchants
had to pay no duties or customs at Ahmadabad on
the export or import of goods, though it was usual
to pay the kotwal fifteen pence per waggon by way of
a present. Foreigners had freedom to trade in all
sorts of commodities except those which were
prohibited, such as gunpowder, lead and saltpetre,
which articles were not allowed to be exported
without the governoif’s permission. This was,
however, not difficult to obtain for a considera-
tion.

According to Mandelslo’s information, the suba
of Gujarat or Ahmadabad comprised within its
The Suba o6 jurisdiction twenty-five great towns
Gujarat and it< and three thousand villages and its
revenues revenue amounted to more than six

million crowns or one crore and twenty lakhs of
rupees. From this amount the governor maintained
twelve thousand horse whom he was obliged to
keep for the royal service.

During his stay at Ahmadabad, which lasted

I

MANDELSLO AT AHMADABAD

29

for nine or ten days, Mandelslo visited, among
other sites, the village of Sarkhej, though his
^ account of the saint’s tomb there

appearance of is far from accuratc. His statement
the capital and indigo in the country was

made here is, however, perfectly true.
He also saw the Shahi Bag Gardens in the suburb
of Begumpur and the famous Kankaria Tank.
His reference to the garden-like appearance of
Ahmadabad and its approaches is of interest and
deserves to be quoted if only to contrast it with the
present grimy surroundings of the city and its
smoking chimneys :

‘ There are so many other gardens about
Ahmadabat, and the whole city is so full of trees,
that a man may say it makes all but one garden ;
for, as he comes to the city, he sees such abundance
of them that he may well think he is going into a
forest. Among other things I took particular
notice of the Highway which they call Baschaban,^
and leads to a village six leagues distant from the
city. It is so straight that it should seem they took
a great pleasure in planting the trees about it, where-
of there is a double row on both sides upon a straight
line. But this road comes nothing near that which
goes from Agra to Barampour (Burhanpur) which

^ This is probably the road leading to the Bagh-i-Shaban to the east
of the city. During the reign of Sultan Qutb-ud-din of Gujarat (1451-8)
his vizier, Malik Shaban, laid out this famous garden near the village of
Rakhyal, about two ipiiles east of Ahmadabad, The garden was sur-
rounded by a wall and included a park, a mosque, a step-well and other
buildings. — Nawab Ali and Seddon, Suppt. to the Mirat-i-Ahmadi,
pp. 19, 20.

30 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

makes but one continued ally for a hundred and
fifty German leagues together.’ ^

The large apes which are to-day so striking a fea-
ture of the city and suburbs of Ahmadabad and whose
Theapesafea- presence attracts the notice of every
hire of the city modem visitor to the capital, receive
special mention on the part of Mandelslo when he
is writing of the trees and gardens about the capi-
tal. Some of these apes were as large as greyhounds
and strong enough to attack a man and they multi-
plied in great numbers owing to the strong objection
of the Hindus to their being killed. This was due
to their belief in metempsychosis, according to which
' the merriest and best humoured souls ’ among men
returned into the bodies of apes after death. These
monkeys were a source of special trouble to the
vendors of fruit and preserves in the city and the
German visitor counted one day a hundred and fifty
of them at the English factory house at Ahmadabad.
They played among themselves and indulged in a
great many antics as if they were specially sent
there for his diversion.

^ Mandelslo, op, cit,, p. 33.

FACADE OF AZAM KHAN’S SERAI AT AHMADABAD
Built 1637

CHAPTER IV

MANDELSLO’S VISITS TO AZAM
KHAN, THE MOGUL GOVERNOR AT
AHMADABAD

Perhaps the most interesting portion of Mandelslo’s
account of his stay at Ahmadabad is that in which he
Azam Khan rsfcrs to the govemor of the province
Governor of and his interviews with that potentate.
Gujarat: his wealth This was the famous Azam Khan^

and establishment , , , - ^ .

whose long tenure of office in Gujarat
is well known to students of history. He was about
sixty years of age at this time, and our traveller
was credibly informed that he was worth in money
and household stuffs ten crores of rupees or fifty
million crowns. Only a few months before this visit,
his daughter, ‘ one of the greatest beauties in the coun-

^ Mandelslo gives his name as Arab-chan (Khan) which is evidently a
mistake. Azam Khan ruled Gujarat as govemor for the unusually long
period of seven years (1636-42) and restored peace and order in the
province by subduing the lawless tribes of the Kolis near Viramgam and
the Kathis near Dhandhuka. At Ranpur he erected an imposing castle,
which still remains, to serve as a military outpost on the borders of
Gujarat and Kathiawar. At Aiimadabad his memory has been per-
petuated by the handsome caravanserai which he built in 1637 in the
south-east comer of the Bhadra, a building which has for many years
past been used as the head post-office of the city. The fort at the village
of Kali, some miles to the north of Ahmadabad, was also probably con-
structed by Azam Khan. In spite of the success of his military expeditions,
Azam Khan^s administration of the province appears to have been
ruthlessly oppressive, and when this condition of affairs was brought to the
notice of Shah Jahan, the emperor ordered his recall in 1642.

32 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

try had been married to Prince Shuja, the second
son of the Emperor Shah Jahan. When this lady
proceeded to the court for her wedding, her father
had her attended by 20 elephants, 1,000 horse and
6,000 waggons laden with the richest and rarest
stuffs in the province. Azam Khan’s establishment
consisted of 500 persons, of whom 400 were his
slaves, who were maintained in his house and
transacted his affairs. His domestic expenditure,
for he entertained lavishly, amounted to about 5,000
crowns or 10,000 rupees a month, not including in
this amount the money spent on the stables where
he kept 500 horses and 50 elephants. The leading
members of his retinue were magnificently clad,
though he himself went in very plain cotton clothes.
But when he appeared publicly in the city or made
a journey into the country, he proceeded in great
state, seated in a howdah upon an elephant which
was caparisoned with the richest tapestry. On
these occasions he was attended by a bodyguard of
200 soldiers and several standards and banners
were carried before him, and many fine Persian
horses accompanied him.’'

On 18 October 1638, Mandelslo proceeded,
along with the English chief, on a visit to the
governor, whom they found sitting in a pavilion
which overlooked his garden. After they were
seated, Azam Khan asked of the English merchant
the details about his companion. He replied that
Mandelslo was a gentleman from Germany who had

^ Mandelslo, op. cit., pp, 35, 36.

MANDELSLO’S VISITS TO AZAM KHAN 33

left his home with the desire of seeing foreign
countries ; that after proceeding to Persia with
an embassy sent thither by his sovereign, he had
decided to see the Indies, ‘ as being the noblest
country in the world,’ and having arrived at
Ahmadabad he had made bold to aspire to the
honour of waiting upon the governor. After asking
whether he had, during his stay in Persia, learnt
anything of the language of that country and being
informed that he had made some attempt to study
Turkish which was commonly spoken in the Shah’s
court, the governor wanted to know his age and how
long it was since he had left Germany. Mandelslo
made reply that he was twenty-four years old and
had been on his travels for three years. The governor
showed some surprise that his friends and relatives
had allowed him to travel so young and inquired
whether he had changed his dress on his journeys.
Being informed in the negative, he declared that it
was extremely fortunate that the young German
should have travelled in that ‘ equipage ’ through so
many countries without meeting with some unhappy
incidents and added that the Dutch and the English
residents in the province clad themselves according
to the fashion of the country to prevent any such
misfortune.

After about an hour’s conversation, the visitors
rose to take leave of the governor, but the latter
Dinner at the requested them to stay and dine with
governor’s palace an honour which was readily

accepted. The dinner was a sumptuous affair served

4

34 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

up and prepared in the Persian manner. The meat
was put in small dishes of porcelain upon rice of
various colours in the same way as Mandelslo had
seen done in the court of the Shah of Persia at

Ispahan. After they had dined they took leave of
Azam Khan who told Mandelslo at parting that he
expected to see him again.

In response to the desire thus expressed, both
the English merchant and his guest paid a second
„ j . » . visit to the governor two days later,

Second interview ^

with Azam Khan: on 20 October. On this occasion,
he transacts however, Mandelslo had dressed ac-

state business i - -

cording to the mode of the country,
because he proposed the next day to travel to Cambay,
which he thought it inexpedient to do without chang-
ing his costume. Azam Khan was clad in a white
vestment over which there was another longer robe
of brocade, the ground of it carnation lined with white
satin and above a collar of sables of which the skins

were sewn together so that the tails hung down over
the back. The governor was attended on this occa-
sion by a number of nobles and, as soon as he saw
the European visitors, he bade them take their
seats near them. Mandelslo soon realized from his
remarks that he was pleased at the change in his
dress. Though the governor was on this occasion
engaged in disposing of state affairs, writing and
despatching orders, he was not prevented from
smoking tobacco, a servant holding the pipe to his
mouth with one hand and setting fire to it with the
other. The governor next left the apartment for a

)

i

MANDELSLO’S VISITS TO AZAM KHAN

35

while to go out and review several companies of
horse and foot which had been drawn up in the
court. Being a seasoned and experienced com-
mander, as our knowledge of his long governorship in
Gujarat has made abundantly evident, he inspected
their arms personally and made the troopers shoot
at a mark in order to judge of their proficiency.
The pay of such who did well at this exercise was
augmented at the cost of the others who had done
badly. Finding him thus occupied, Mandelslo
and his guest wished to take their leave and in the
interval had some fruit offered to them, the best
part of which they forwarded to their house with
his consent.

Returning from the inspection, the governor
called for a little golden cabinet set with precious
The Governor of stoucs. It had two Small drawers, from
Ahmadabad, a one of which he took out some opium
Peraian bom q£ other bkang, a drug or

powder made of the leaves and seed of the hemp
plant. Having taken a small spoonful of each for
himself, he sent round the cabinet to Mandelslo,
saying that during his stay in Ispahan he must
have learnt the use of this drug. Both the visitors
helped themselves to a little of it, though neither
had tasted the narcotic before, nor had much,
liking for the same. After this an animated con-
versation followed. Replying to an inquiry where
he had learnt the Turkish language and whether he
had ever visited Constantinople, Mandelslo said that
he had not been to the Turkish capital, but had

36 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

devoted his spare time in the province of Shirwan
in Persia and at Ispahan in acquiring that tongue,
the use of which was as common in Persia as that of
the country. Azam Khan told his guest that Shir-
wan was his native country and he became naturally
more friendly and talkative after this.

The conversation next turned on the character
of Shah Safi of Persia,^ for Mandelslo was able to
He dislikes Shall say that he had come into close con-
Safi of Persia with that sovereign, had dined at

his table and gone out hunting in his company.
The governor was evidently no admirer of Shah Safi,
for he wished to know whether that king still con-
tinued to be a tyrant, having begun his reign with
the most bloody acts which had caused the death of
a very large number of persons of all ranks. He
declared that cruelty was hereditary in the Shah’s
family, having descended to him from his grandfather,
Shah Abbas the Great.^ Also that the famous
Ali Mardan Khan, the Governor of Qandahar, had
that very year transferred his allegiance to the great
Mogul and delivered up to the latter this famous

^ Shah Safi of Persia (1629-42) was the grandson and successor of
Shah Abbas the Great, and his reign of thirteen years was one long
chapter of executions. * He murdered the princes of the royal blood and
even some of the princesses and, not content with thus securing his power,
deliberately put to death all his grandfather^s most trusted councillors
and generals.* — M. Sykes, History of Persia^ vol. II, p. 297.

* Shah Abbas the Great, of the Saf avi dynasty, ruled from 1587 to 1629,
and takes rank with Charles V, Elizabeth and Akbar among the great
rulers of the sixteenth century. The fame of his great achievements has
been sullied by his ordering the murder or mutilation of three out of his
four sons.

MANDELSLO’S VISITS TO AZAM KHAN 37

frontier stronghold, for no other reason but that he
thought his life was in danger.

After these comments on the character and rule

of Shah Safi of Persia, Azam Khan proceeded to
some comparison between that ruler
contrMt! a” his master, the great Mogul, who

Per»ian and Mogul was at this time the Emperor Shah
sovereign* Jahan. What followed may better be
given in Mandelslo’s own language :

‘ He (the governor) was content to believe that
Shah Safi was an understanding person, but that
even as to that there was no more comparison
between him and the Mogul than there was between

the poverty of the one and the vast wealth of the
other, the Prince his master being able to maintain

a war against three kings of Persia. I was loath to
enter into any contestation upon so ticklish a

subject and therefore only told him that it was
indeed true that there was not any comparison

between the gold and the silver; the wealth of
Persia and what I had already seen of the Mogul’s

kingdom ; but that it must be withal confessed that
Persia had one thing which could not be had else-
where and was in effect inestimable, which was the

great number of Kazilbashis^ with whose assistance
the King of Persia might attempt the conquest of
all Asia: which I said purposely, knowing the

^ Kazilbash, or ‘ Red Head/ was the name given to seven Turkish
tribes known for their valour. These tribesmen were so called because
they wore a scarlet head-piece. They professed the Shiah faith and it
was with their help that the founder of the great Safavi dynasty had
established his power in Persia.--Sykes, Persia, vol. II, p. 242 and n.

38 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

governor was a Kazilbash and that he could take no
offence at such a discourse. Accordingly, he dis-
covered his satisfaction thereat, not only in saying
that he must grant it to be true, but also when
turning to one of the lords, who was a Persian, as
well as himself, he said to him, ” I believe this young
gentleman hath courage when he speaks so well of
those that have.”

The discourse having ended, dinner was served.
A number of large vessels were brought in and the
_ . , carver who sat in their midst filled

The character of ,

the Governor of the little Qishes With E huge spoon,
Ahmadabad which Were then served up to the
party. The Khan himself, to assure the guests of
his pleasure at their company, added with his own
hand something to their plates. The room in which
the refreshment was given was full of military
officers, some of whom stood on guard with half-
pikes in their hands, while others sat about a tank
or reservoir which was in the room. After dinner
was over, the visitors took their leave. Mandelslo
describes the governor as ‘ a judicious, understanding
man, but hasty and so rigorous that his government
inclined somewhat to cruelty’. To illustrate this, he
relates the following incident of the dancing girls
who were executed in his palace for refusal to obey
his summons ;

‘ It happened one day that the two principal
directors of the English and Dutch trade there
being invited by him to dinner, . . . jesting with

^ Mandelslo, op. cit., pp. 37, 38.

MANDELSLO’S VISITS TO AZAM KHAN 39

the English merchant put him into so good a humour
Execution of the that he would needs devote the re-
dancing girU mainder of the day to sport and diver-
tisement and thereupon sent for twenty women-
dancers who, as soon as they were come into the
room, fell a-singing and dancing, but with an activity
and exact observation of the cadence much beyond
that of our dancers upon the ropes. They had little
hoops or circles, through which they leaped as
nimbly as if they had been so many apes and made
thousands of postures according to the several
soundings of their music, which consisted of a
timbrel, an oboe and several tabours. Having
danced near two hours, the governor would needs
send into the city for another band of dancers, but
the servants brought word that they were sick and
could not come. This excuse being not taken, he
sent out the same servants with express order to
bring those women away by force ; but they return-
ing the second time with the same excuse, he
ordered they should be cudgelled. Upon that, they
cast themselves at the governor’s feet, and acknow-
ledged that it was indeed true they were not sick,
but that they absolutely denied to come, saying they
knew well enough the governor would not pay
them. He laughed at it, but immediately commanded
out a party of his guard to bring them to him, and
they were no sooner entered into the hall, ere he
ordered their heads to be struck off. They begged
their lives with horrid cries and lamentations ; but
he would be obeyed and caused the execution to

40 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

be done in the room before all the company, not
one of the lords then present daring to make the
least intercession for those wretches, who were
eight in number. The strangers were startled at
the horror of the spectacle and inhumanity of the
action which the governor taking notice of fell
a-laughing and asked them what they were so
much startled at? “Assure yourselves, gentlemen,”
said he, “that if I should not take this course, I
should not be long governor of Ahmadabad. For
should I connive once at their disobedience they
would play the masters and drive me out of the city.
’Tis prudence in me to prevent their contempt of
my authority by such examples of severity as these
are.” ’ ^

^ Mandelslo, op. cit., pp, 38, 39. There is no reason to discredit this
circumstantial account, for Azam Khan had a reputation for severity
even before he was appointed Governor of Gujarat in 1636. On the news
of his appointment reaching Ahmadabad, the leading inhabitants of the
city forwarded a petition to the Emperor Shah Jahan requesting him to
continue Saif Khan as governor. Though the latter had sufficiently abused
his powers, the people of Ahmadabad evidently feared worse usage under
his successor . — English Factories in India (1634-6) edited by Foster,
p. 259.

CHAPTER V

MANDELSLO AT CAMBAY

After spending some nine days at Ahmadabad,
Mandelslo started, on 21 October, for a short visit
Mandei»io’» to Cambay. As robbers were known
trip to Cambay j-Q jnfest the highway, a convoy of
eight foot-soldiers, armed with pikes and bucklers,
was engaged for the journey. The men served also
as lackeys and were hired for the small sum of eight
crowns or sixteen rupees for the journey. Proceeding
by the village of Fateh Wadi to Sojitra, Mandelslo
at last reached Cambay on the third day. Here he
was met by a Banya broker in the service of the
English and Dutch companies, who knew Portu-
guese, and brought him into the town. As the
English agent in Cambay was away from the city,
the broker arranged for Mandelslo’s lodging with a
Mohammedan merchant of the place.

Cambay is described as a walled city with a
dozen gates, very large houses, straight and broad
De»cription of Toads and much greater in extent
the city and than Surat. The majority of the
Its garden* inhabitants were Hindus, who applied
themselves to commerce, and carried on an extensive
business with Achin, Div, Goa, Mecca and Persia.
They exported to these places all sorts of silk and
cotton stuffs and brought back in exchange gold

42 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

and silver in the form of ducats, sequins and rials.
After spending two hours looking after the sites in
the city, Mandelslo was taken by the broker outside
the walls, where he was shown some fifteen public
gardens. Among these one near the seashore, which
contained the mausoleum of the founder and was
surrounded by a high wall, is specially selected for
encomium. ‘ There is not,’ says our traveller, ‘ any
place in all those parts that hath so noble a prospect
as this, not only towards the seaside, but also towards
the land where a man hath the sight of the noblest
champion country in the world. This is so pleasant
a place that the Mogul (emperor), being one day at
Cambay, would needs take up his lodging in the
garden and caused the stones of the sepulchre to
be taken away that his tent might be pitched there.’ ^
Mandelslo was soon joined by two of the English
merchants of the factory at Cambay who offered to
,, , take him the next morning to a place

towards the near the city where an Indian widow
Hindu custom j-q bum hersclf and become a saii.

The woman’s husband was a Rajput
who had been killed near Lahore, upon news of
which she declared her determination to put an end
to her life. The Governor of Cambay had for a long
time opposed her desire since it was the policy of
the Mogul government and its officers to abolish
by degrees this ‘ heathenish and barbarous custom.’
He pretended that as the news of her husband’s
death had not been confirmed, he could not give his

^ Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 40,

MANDELSLO AT CAMBAY

43

consent to the action which she contemplated and
for which there might be cause to repent afterwards.
His object was to see whether the lapse of time
would abate her passion to follow her husband into
the other world. At last, finding that she was
becoming daily more and more insistent in her
resolve, he permitted her to comply with the practices
of her religion. Mandelslo here correctly describes
the imperial attitude towards this ancient custom.
No Hindu widow could, since Akbar’s time, immolate
herself without the formal sanction of the governor,
but the latter could only advise and delay his deci-
sion ; if the woman remained firm he was bound to
grant the permission.’'

The young woman, who had decided to sacrifice
herself to show her love for her husband, was not

Mandelslo
describes the
ceremony which
he witnessed

more than twenty years of age. But
she came up to the place prepared for
the funeral pyre with so much self-
control and cheerfulness so unusual

* The French traveller, M. de Thevenot, also refers to the policy of
the Moslem governors to prevent the burning of Hindu women after their
husbands^ death : * To conclude, the women are happy that the Mohamme-
dans are become the masters in the Indies to deliver them from the tjnranny
of the Brahmins who always desire their death, because these ladies being
never burnt without all their ornaments of gold and silver about them,
and none but they having power to touch their ashes, they fail not to pick
up all that is precious from amongst them. However, the great Mogul
and other Mohammedan princes, having ordered their governors to employ
all their care in suppressing that abuse, as much as lies in their power, it
requires at present great solicitations and considerable presents for obtain-
ing the permission of being burnt ; so that the difficulty they meet with in
this secures a great many women from the infamy they would incur in
their caste if they were not forced to live by a Superior Power.’ —
Thevenot, Travels into the Indies , London (1687) p. 85.

I

44 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

in a person who is faced with inevitable death that
Mandelso was much inclined to believe that she had
dulled her senses with a dose of opium. The
description which he gives of the melancholy scene,
and of the procession accompanying the woman, is
similar to the accounts given by other old travellers
who witnessed such sacrifices in India. Having
looked upon the pyre with a certain amount of
disdain, the young widow took leave of her kindred
and her friends and distributed among them her
rings and bracelets and other ornaments. ‘ I was,’
says the German traveller, ‘ something near her on
horseback, with the two English merchants, and
I think she perceived in my countenance that I
pitied her, whence it came that she cast me one of
her bracelets which I had the good hap to catch
and still keep in remembrance of so extraordinary
an action.’ ^

The same day, Mandelslo paid a visit to one of
the leading merchants of Cambay, named Mirza

Vi«t.MirzaBeg,a brought letters

leading merchant, of recommendation from the chief of
and receive. j-jig English factory at Ahmadabad.
present. They had some general talk and

exchange of compliments in the Turkish langu-
age. After Mandelslo had returned home and
finished his ndeals, there came a man bearing some
presents from Mirza Beg, namely twelve capons and
pullets, a basket of eggs, a pannier of coco-nuts, a
great bundle of sugar-canes and a very fine vessel

^ Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 41.

MANDELSLO AT CAMBAY

45

made of agate. The next morning, as Mandelslo
was departing for Ahmadabad, hoping to call on
the merchant on the way to thank him for his
presents, the latter himself turned up to wish him
good-bye. The German requested him to accept a
fine pocket-pistol made in London. The merchant
replied that it was ungracious to receive presents
from a stranger, but that it would be a greater act
of incivility to refuse what had been so kindly
proffered and that he would accept the gift which
had been bestowed on him though he was little
deserving of the same. Here Mandelslo in his diary
enters some reflections which are as complimentary
to the people of India as they are spontaneous and
indicative of a discerning and noble disposition on
the part of the writer :

‘ I give a particular account of this answer,’ says
he, ‘ that the reader may judge thereby whether
those persons who are so well furnished with
compliments of this nature should be looked on as
barbarians ; and no doubt but he will be much more
surprised when I shall tell him that there is more
civility to be found among the Indians than there is
among those who pretend to the sole possession
of it, but seldom accompany it with the sincerity
which ever attends it in the Indies, where such as
are friends are such without any finesse or reserva-
tion to those to whom they have promised friend-
ship ; as they are, on the other side, irreconcilable
enemies to such as have injured them.’ ^

^ Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 42.

46 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

The offer of the usual compliment of betel-nut
and pan to Mirza Beg before he departed leads
Remark* on the Mandelslo to a long dissertation on
use of betel and their Universal use in India and their
pan m India history and production. He adds
some interesting details about the hold- which these
articles had obtained on such Europeans as were
domiciled in India for any length of time. This
was particularly the case with the Portuguese
women at Goa, ‘ who are perpetually employed
about this exercise, chewing this drug as cows and
such other cattle chew the cud.’^ Pie admits that
the frequent use of this luxury discolours the teeth
which turn a red colour, but adds that that is
considered one of the beauties of the Indian women.

The nobles of the country had these digestives
carried about with them in boxes of lac or silver, and
ate them as they went about the streets, or even
when they had weighty business to transact.

Travelling the same way by which he had come,
Mandelslo reached the village of Sojitra so late at
The Jain night that the Jain shopkeepers, who

shopkeeper* of did not bum candles for fear of
Sojitra some insects being thereby destroyed,

would not open their shops to sell the traveller any
forage for his beasts. The latter was thinking of
breaking open one of the shops rather than allow
his horses and oxen to starve, when one of the
Banyas provided him with some forage which in
these parts consisted of sugar and meal with the

^ Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 43.

MANDELSLO AT CAMBAY

47

addition of a little butter at times. After another
day’s journey the party arrived at the famous garden
of Fateh Wadi on the Sabarmati near Sarkhej.

On his outward journey to Cambay, Mandelslo
had reached the place at night. But on the present

, , , . occasion he was able to have a good

theJitbagor look at Fateh Wadi and its pleasure-

Fateh Wadi near houses which had been constructed at
Sarkhej sixteenth century by

Akbar’s general, Abdurrahim Khan, the son of
Bairam Khan, to commemorate his great victory
in 1583-4 over the last of the Gujarat sultans.’'
Mandelslo’s description of this garden is fuller than
any given by the Persian historians or by other
European travellers and deserves to be reproduced :

‘ This garden which, no doubt, is the most
delightful of any in the Indies, is also the most
One of the Considerable of any in the whole

loveliest gardens country, not Only in respect of the
mall India victory which the Mogul gained in
that place over the last king of Guzuratta, and which
gave it the name of Zzietbag (Jitbag), that is to say,
the garden of victory, but also in respect of its
magnificent structures and the noble fruits which
grow there in great abundance. It is seated in one
of the most pleasant places in the world, upon the
side of a great Pool, having on the side towards

^ The picture in this chapter illustrates the Pleasure House built on
the river at Fateh Wadi by Ahbar’s famous general. But for considerable
private expenditure on repairs and conservation by Mr. Nariman R.
Kothawala who holds this estate, the ruins of this imposing and historic
structure would by this time have completely disappeared.

48 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

the water several Pavilions, and on that towards
Ahmadabat a very high wall. The sumptuousness
of the buildings speaks the great spirit of the Prince
that founded it, as doth also the caravansarai adjoin-
ing thereto.

‘There are in the garden many alleys of fruit-
trees : as orange and citron-trees of all sorts ; pome-
granate-trees, date-trees, almond-trees, mulberry-
trees, and trees which bear tamarinds, mangoes and
cocos, besides many other not known to us; and
there was such abundance of them, and they were
planted so close that we could walk about the
Garden in the shade, which was a great refreshing
to us. The branches of all these trees were
infinitely stored with apes, which added not a little
to the divertisement and satisfaction of our walk.

We stayed no longer in it than while our horses
were baiting, in regard we were resolved to get
that day to Amadabat, whither we came at night.

Mandelslo did not, after his return from Cambay,
stay for more than a day or two at Ahmadabad,
MandeWo having been informed that a caravan
proceed* to Agra of two hundred merchants was ready
and Lahore gtaft fQj. Mogul capital at Agra.

On 28 October, therefore, he left the city for the
tour northwards to Hindustan, being recommended
to the leader of the caravan by the English president

at Surat. Having, after a long journey, reached
Agra, Mandelslo proceeds to give a long account of
the court and the government of the great Mogul

^ Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 44.

MANDELSLO AT CAMBAY 49

and his wealth and revenues, a subject on which it is
not necessary to enter in this book.’’ From Agra,
after a short stay, the German proceeded to Lahore,
where he entered one of the many public hamams
and enjoyed the luxury of a Turkish bath. But his
stay here was soon cut short by the arrival of letters
from Agra to the effect that Methwold, the English
President at Surat, intended very shortly to embark
for England. Mandelslo, who desired to accompany
him on the voyage to Europe, put himself in the
company of several Indian merchants who were
proceeding to Ahmadabad, and in due course
arrived again in that city, some time in December
1638.

^ Mandelslo, op. clt, pp. 45-57. This is a fairly long interpolation
by de Wicqnefort or by Olearius.

5

CHAPTER VI

MANDELSLO’S RETURN JOURNEY TO
SURAT AND HIS LAST DAYS IN
GUJARAT

At Lahore, Mandelslo had received letters from
President Methwold to say he was waiting only for
Recalled by Pre*i- fhc arrival of the kafilas from Agra
dent Methwold Ahmadabad, and would depart

for England as soon as the goods which they brought
with them reached Surat and were put on board
ship. The President also informed him that he was
shortly delivering over charge of his office and as
there would be great entertainments and feasting on
the occasion he would be glad of Mandelslo’s pre-
sence. The latter, therefore, started from Ahmada-
bad for Surat as soon as the caravan from Agra had
arrived and was accompanied by the director of the
factory at Ahmadabad, who as well as his second
were to be present at the ceremony when the Presi-
dent was to hand over charge.

The return journey to the seaport of Surat was
by the same route by which Mandelslo had come, but
Eventful iourney ^as destined to be much more event-
from Ahmadabad ful. The caravan had left Mahmud-
to Surat abad, Vasad and Baroda, and was

nearing Broach when it was attacked by a large
band of Rajput highwaymen. A sharp conflict took

MANDELSLO’S RETURN JOURNEY TO SURAT 51

place in which the robbers were ultimately forced
to withdraw. The armed soldiers in the kafila took
part in the fight, as also did Mandelslo and the
English merchants with him. His account of the
engagement deserves to be quoted :

‘ Accordingly almost ere we could resolve how
to make our party good against them, we saw
. . . coming out of all sides of the wood a

Sharp ilanm«h ", , , / t-. • \

with Rajput great number of Rasboutes (Rajputs)

robber* near armed with short pikes, bucklers,

Broach bows and arrows, but without any fire-

arms. We had the time to charge those we had,
which were four firelocks and three pair of pistols.
The merchant and I got on horseback and bestowed
the firelocks among those who were in the coach,
with express order not to fire till they were sure to
do execution. Our firearms were charged with
square pieces of steel and the Rasboutes came on
in so close a body that at the first firing we
saw three fall. They shot certain arrows at us,
wherewith they hurt an ox and two foot-soldiers.
One was shot into the pommel of my saddle and
the English merchant had another shot into his
turbaut. The Dutch kafila hearing the noise
commanded out ten soldiers ; but ere they could
come in to our relief we ran a great hazard of our
lives. For I was set upon on all sides and was
thrust twice with a pike into my buff-collar
which certainly saved my life that day. There came
two of the Rasboutes so near as to lay hold on my
bridle, after they had killed two of my foot-soldiers.

52 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

and were going to carry me away prisoner. But I
dispatched one of them with a pistol shot, which I
gave him in the shoulder, and the English merchant
came in to my relief and behaved himself with as
much gallantry as it was possible man could do.
The ten foot-soldiers belonging to the Dutch kafila
being come in and the kafila itself not much behind
them, the Rasboutes got into the woods, leaving six
men killed upon the place and carrying along with
them many hurt. On our side we had two foot-
soldiers killed and eight wounded, besides whom the
English merchant had also received a slight wound.’ ^

We have given a fairly long extract of this
engagement from Mandelslo’s work as it helps to
Conditions of illustrate the general conditions of
travel in Gujarat travel in Gujarat under Mogul rule
in the first half of the seventeenth century. It is
interesting, besides, for the light it throws on
Mandelslo’s personal bravery and that of his com-
panion, but for whom and the soldiers under them,
the caravan would undoubtedly have been merci-
lessly looted by the robbers. There were no further
mishaps on the journey and passing through Broach
and Ankleswar the party at last reached Surat on
26 December 1638.

At Surat, Mandelslo found some fifty English
merchants assembled at the factory house, many of
Methwoid for- whom had been summoned by the
maiiy deliver* President from the subordinate fac-
over charge tories in Gujarat and other parts to

^ Mandelslo, op. dt., p. 59.

MANDELSLO’S RETURN JOURNEY TO SURAT 53

render an account of their administration as well as
to be present at the change in the presidentship.
Besides Methwold the President^ and Fremlin his
second, who was to succeed him in this office, the
party included five ‘ consuls ’ from several factories
in the Indies, three chaplains, two physicians and
the rest merchants. At the formal ceremony of
handing over charge in the presence of the as-
sembled company, Methwold delivered an excellent
address thanking those present for the many proofs
he had received during his term of office of their
fidelity and affection and for the honour and respect
which they had rendered the East India Company
in his person. He requested them to give the same
allegiance to Fremlin, who had been his second,
and to whom he was resigning his charge according
to orders received. He concluded by exhorting
them to behave in all matters in a manner that
would conduce most to the reputation and advan-
tage of the company. After this he handed over
to his successor the letters patent by virtue of
which he was to assume the new charge and made
some complimentary remarks about him.®

When this official ceremony was over, Methwold
and the whole assembly went to their garden
outside the city where the President had arranged

^ Methwold was chief of the English factory at Surat for seven
years (1631-8) and stood head and shoulders above his immediate
predecessors in ability and character. In 1636 President Methwold bad
been imprisoned by the Surat governor, Hakim Massih-uz-Zaman, for
piracies at sea for which neither the chief nor his masters in England were
in any way responsible,

* Mandelslo, op. dt, pp. 59, 60.

54 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA
a magnificent entertainment for his guests, consist-
He entertain* whatever was excellent and

the factor* rare that could be procured in the
magnificently country. Besides the refreshments,
there was present a band of English music (violins),
another of Muslim music and a third of Hindu,
which last was accompanied by the inevitable
women dancers for the further entertainment of the
company. After the party had broken up, orders
were issued that those ships which had been fully
laden with cargo should make all necessary prepara-
tions for the return journey. Mandelslo and the
others who were to go in them also made things
ready for the long voyage to Europe.

The change of presidents in the English factory
at Surat in the last days of the year 1638 coincided
PToce**ion of ^ change in the Mogul governors

Mir Mu*a'» of the city. Mandelslo gives the name
»tate entry into of the new incumbent as Mirza
Mahmud^ and describes his state entry
into the town on 28 December. The new President,
Fremlin, went half a league or about a mile and a
half out of the city to meet him and was accom-
panied by five of the most important factors who
requested Mandelslo to go alpng with them. In
front of the governor’s procession was a company

* Mandelslo is not correct. The name of the new ruler was Mir Musa
(Muiz-ul-Mulk) who was appointed for the second time as governor of
Surat and Cambay at the end of 1638 in succession to Hakim Massih-uz-
Zaman whose rule at Surat had proved thoroughly cruel and oppressive.
Mir -Musa's second term of office lasted for three years and he was
recalled in English Factories in India (1637-41) edited by

Foster, p. 279.

MANDELSLO’S RETURN JOURNEY TO SURAT 55

of infantry and a number of palankeens, and after
these came an elephant on which sat a man carrying
a banner of red taffeta. The elephant was followed
by about a hundred foot-soldiers, behind whom were
twenty others each of whom carried a little banner in
his hand, ‘ much like those of our cornets,’ in several
colours. Then came the governor mounted upon a
fine Persian horse and attended by several persons of
quality and a great number of officers on horseback.
At the tail end of the procession was carried the
governor’s palankeen, gilt all over. The people
thronged the streets and received their new ruler with
loud acclamations. After accompanying him to his
palace, the new President returned to his ownhouse.^

On 1 January 1639 Methwold, having made all
arrangements for the voyage, went to take leave
Mandeitio’* last of the new govemor who received
days in Gujarat kindly and presented him with

a vestment of brocade, the collar of which was made
of ‘ two martin’s skins with sables ’, and many other
rare articles. Leaving the palace, Methwold and
Mandelslo stepped into a shallop and proceeded by
the river to the Mary which was lying in the
roadstead. The new President and the chief
officers in the English factory accompanied them
t6 the ship where they all stayed three days ‘enter-
taining and treating one another, and drowning in
good wine the affliction which was to ensue upon

* At this place in the Travels we have a long interpolation on the
province of Gnjarat covering twenty-eight folio pages (pp. 60-88). It is
entirely an addition by de Wicqnefort, the French translator.

56 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

SO long a separation The long voyage to Europe
began on the fifth day of the new year, the ship
touching at Daman, Bassein and Goa on her way
to the Cape.*

Mandelslo’s tour in Gujarat and his stay at
Surat and Ahmadabad supply a unique picture of
Value of hi* Condition of the province, the

Travels in &e life of the people and the manners
hutoiy of Gujarat which it is impossible to

secure from any of the formal histories of the time.
For the historian of Gujarat his work has thus
a value which the writings of the more famous
travellers of the seventeenth century, such as Bernier,
Tavernier and Manucci cannot possess.

* Mandelslo, op* cit., p, 89*

* The following is an extract from a long letter entitled * President
Fremlen and Conndl, aboard the Mary at the month of the Surat river,
to the Company, January 4, 1639 ^ :

^Methwold has availed himself of the permission given in the letters
received by the Jonas to resign his position, and now goes home in the
Mary, , , . There is a young gentleman named John Albrecht Van
Manslo (Mandelslo), who accompanied the Duke of Holstein's ambassador
by the Caspian Sea to the King of Persia. When the ambassador returned,
this gentleman, whether out of curiosity or discontent, made choice to
come for India. And arriving here with the Swan about the end of April,
he hath lived ever since amongst us, the civillest, modestest, and fairest
behaved that we have ever known of his age and education. He declareth
that it was his purpose to seek a passage by sea, which he hoped to have
found at his first arrival. We made little difficulty to grant it him ;
but withal we declared ourselves to be servants, and therefore left him
accountable to you for the diet and passage of himself and servant;
whereunto he willingly submitted. He pretendeth to have some near
relation to the Duke of Holstein, as having been sometimes his page, as
he had been to Count Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland. You may please
to approve of this our accommodation of him, since in truth we conceive
he doth well deserve it .' — English Factories in India (1637-41) edited by
Foster, p. 118.

CHAPTER VII

MANDELSLO’S VISIT TO GOA

The Mary, with the English President and
Mandelslo on board, set sail from Surat bar on

The ship caiit at ^ January 1639, and got the same
Daman which is night in sight of the town of Daman,
besieged by the reference which our traveller

Mughais makes to thesiegeof Daman, ^which was

invested by the Mogul army at this period, is of great
interest as a proof of the credibility of his narrative :

‘ The governor sent us a vessel of wine, about
the bigness of a barrel, and some other refreshments,
notwithstanding the siege which the King of
Deccan, his neighbour, then maintained against the
place, but with little good success, in regard the
haven being not blocked up, the Indians could not
prevent the sending in of relief into the city, even
in the day-time.’*

* This was the great siege of Daman in 1638-9 during the reign of
Shah Jahan. The city was invested from the land side by a Mogul
army of S,000 foot and as many horse under the command of a general
wbo was acting under the orders of Prince Anrangzeb, then viceroy of
the Deccan provinces, with his headquarters at Danlatabad. The siege
lasted for many months for the garrison kept np a spirited defence, the
being open to them for receiving supplies. At last a settlement was
effected through the efforts of Mir Musa, the Governor of Surat, who was
helped in the matter by President Fremlin of the English factory. —
EnglishFactoriesinlndia{X^^--‘^^^^ by Foster, pp. 123-4, 203, 214-6.

® Mandelslo, op. dt, p. 89. Here follows an interpolation by Olearius
on the kir^om of the Deccan, etc., covering some eight pages of the
text (pp. 89-97),

58 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

Two days later, the ship reached Bassein, then
in the possession of the Portuguese, where it was
p«ises by Bassein welcomed with sevcn guns. Here,
and arrives at Goa at the govemor’s desire, a frigate
belonging to this nation was allowed to accom-
pany the ship under the English colours in order
to escape falling into the hands of the Dutch who
were constantly moving up and down the coast. On
9 January the Mary passed by the islands of Bandra
and Bombay, and on the 11th it entered the harbour
of the great city of Goa.^

As Methwold had some important financial
affairs to settle at Goa,® he and his German com-

^ This was Old Goa, the famous city founded by Albuquerque in 1510,
near the site of the town conquered by him from the Bijapur State. By
the end of the sixteenth century it had grown into one of the finest capitals
in India with a large population, stately buildings and extensive com-
merce, and it was a current proverb to say : ‘ If you have seen Goa, you
needn^t go to Lisbon.’ After the middle of the seventeenth century its
decline began, first owing to the attacks of the Dutch whose fleets blockaded
the harbour, and also because, its site becoming pestilential, the city began
to be deserted. * It is now Bterally a city of ruins, and is so hidden from
view by the foliage of the jungle which has occupied It that the stranger
approaches it unawares, and drives into the midst unconscious that he is
traversing streets of ruined, empty dwellings, occupied by coco-nut and
other tall trees instead of human beings. In the midst of all this ruin Goa
remains a city pf magnificent churches, four or five ranking as first class
and in perfect preservation.’ — Murray^ $ Handbook for Travellers in
India (1926) p. 492.

® President Methwold specially called at Goa on his homeward
voyage to secure the payment of a large sum of money due to the Surat
factory from the Portuguese authorities at Goa, a matter which had been
long pending settlement. According to Mandelslo (p. 60) he was ‘to
receive fifty thousand rials, which the Portuguese were to pay in
execution of the treaty of peace they had made vsith the English, to be
employed in the Indies according as the President of Surat should dispose
thereof.’ See also English Factories in India (1637-41) edited by
Poster, pp. Ill, 203.

MANDELSLO’S VISIT TO GOA 59

panion remained as guests in the capital of
The President Portuguese India for ten days. A
received with visit from the English President at
high honours Surat to the city of Goa was an event
of special importance, and he was accordingly
received with the highest honours. The Portuguese
admiral, described as the ‘ General of the Galleons ’,
who was then in the port with his fleet to operate
against the Dutch squadron, welcomed the President
with a volley from his largest guns, and soon after
came up in person on board the Mary in a gilt
gondola covered with scarlet cloth. After these
formalities were over, the President left his ship
and proceeded up the river to the city with his
trumpets sounding before him. On arrival at Goa,
his first visit was to the house of the Fiador de la
I^azenda or the ‘Overseer of the Exchequer’,^ it
being with him chiefly that he was to negotiate the
business which had occasioned his calling at Goa.
This officer was sick in bed, but received his
visitor with great civility, and as they had long
been friends promised to give him all possible
help. Methwold was then conducted in a palankeen
to the residence arranged for him ; and having asked
for an audience with the viceroy* immediately

^ The office of Fiador da Fazenda was the most important at Goa
next to that of the viceroy. *As there was no efficient audit of his
accounts, and it was no crime for a Portuguese at this period to cheat the
King of Spain, his embezzlements were on avast ^Voyage of Pyrard

de Laval, translated by Gray and Bell, Hakluyt Society (1887) vol. II, p. 21

* The viceroy’s name was Dom Pedro da Silva de Menezes (1635-9).
He died on 24 June 1639, some months after Mandelslo’s visit. — Danvers,
Portuguese in India, vol. II, p. 267.

60 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

proceeded to wait on the latter who lived in royal
style at Goa.

The viceroy’s palace lay on the river side, and
Methwold and his companions proceeded thither by
Interview with the boat. They were met by several fid-
Viceroy of Goa algos or gentlemen of the viceroy’s
retinue who conducted them into the hall where the
audience was to be given and which was richly
furnished and full of pictures of several princes of
Europe.’^ The guards, who were clad in livery, pre-
sented arms and stood in two files in the antechamber
through which the hall was to be entered.* The
viceroy, who was dressed in black, rose from his
chair at the President’s coming in and did not sit
down again till the other was seated. All the rest
of the company stood before the viceroy except some
of the gentlemen who conducted Mandelslo and
others into one of the side rooms to entertain them.
The President having discussed his business took
leave of the viceroy, who brought him to the hall-

^ These were life-size paintings of all the viceroys who had mled in
the Indies, and not portraits of European princes as Mandelslo writes.
This interesting gallery of paintings is still preserved in the palace of the
governors at Panjim or New Goa. There is little doubt that the coloured
portraits of the viceroys in the Resenda MS at the British Museum are
copies of these paintings . — Pyrard de Laval^ op. dt., vol. 11, p. SO and n.
Another large reception-hall in the viceroy^s palace contained paintings of
all the fleets and vessels which had gone from Portugal to the Indies, each
bearing the name of the ship and of the captain and the number of guns it
carried. — ibid., p. 50 and Tavernier, Travels in India^ translated by Ball,
London (1889) vol. I, p. 187.

* These guards formed a company of 100 men, all dad in blue livery.
They were Portuguese, carried halberts, and kept dose to the viceroy’s
person in the palace or wherever he went . — Pyrard de Laval^ op. dt.,
vol. II, p. 51.

MANDELSLO’S VISIT TO GOA

61

door and stood bare till the visitors were all gone.
The gentlemen of his retinue accompanied the
guests to their boat on the river, showing them
on the way twelve fine horses, sumptuously covered
and harnessed, which had been specially brought up
there to give the visitors an impression of the vice-
roy’s magnificence.’’

The party had hardly dined after return to their
lodgings, when visitors began to pour in. Most

The Preiident Portuguese lords came to

overwhelmed with ‘ salute ’ the President and there was
visita and feast* j^ot a monastery in Goa which did not
send its deputies to ‘ compliment him’. The ten
days of their stay in the city were thus spent in
reciprocal visits and continual feasting. One of the
noblest entertainments given them was on IS
January, when they were invited by a Portuguese
lord who had been Governor of Bassein and had
been recently' appointed to the government of
Mozambique. Mandelslo’s account of the feast may
be quoted here :

‘ Every course consisted only of four dishes of
meat, but they were so often changed, and the meat
. , so excellently well dressed, that I may

He is entertainea . _ ^

ijythe truly say I never was at the like.

«x.Govemor por with the meat there was brought

of Bastem variety of excellent fruits that by

the continual change and inter-mixture of both the
appetite was sharpened and renewed. But what was
most remarkable was that though the Portuguese

* Mandelslo, op. cit., pp. 98.

62 MANDELSLO'S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

ladies are as seldom seen as those of the Muscovites
and Persians, yet this lord, knowing he could not in
any way more oblige the English than by allowing
them the sight of women, we were served at table
by four handsome young maids of Malacca, while he
himself was attended by two pages and an eunuch.
These maids brought in the meat and filled our wine ;
and though he himself drunk not any, yet would he
have the English treated after their own way, and
drink to what height they pleased.’^

The next day, being 16 January, the President
as well as Mandelslo was invited by the Jesuits to
Invited to the Now a sumptuous feast at the New College
College of St. Paul of St. Paul,^ though our traveller may
be excused for mistaking it for the Professed House
of the Jesuits. The account given by Mandelslo is
by far the most interesting that has been written of
this college, which was perhaps the greatest and
most splendid building which the Society of Jesus

^ Mandelslo, op. cit., pp. 98-9.

® The New College of St. Paul, or the Convent of St. Roch, as it was
generally called, was one of the finest edifices of Goa. To it was trans-
ferred, about 1610, the Old College of St. Paul which had played so
conspicuous a part in the early history of the Catholic Church in the east,
but which was abandoned on account of its unhealthy site. The new
college was erected by the Jesuits in face of great opposition. It
suffered also from successive outbreaks of fixe, but the Jesuits rebuilt
what was destroyed. — ^Tavernier, op. cit., voL I, p. 197. Its prpfessors were
generally men of eminence from Europe. After the expulsion of the
Jesuits from Goa in 1759 the college was closed, and in course of time the
building fell into decay and ruin. Its materials were used for constructing
the new barracks at Pangim. — ^Fonseca, Sketch of the City of Goa^
pp. 315-20.

For the accounts of this college given by P. Della Valle (1623) and
Dr. J. Fryer (1675) see Appendix A to this chapter.

6 ?

MANDELSLO’S VISIT TO GOA

had in the city of Goa. He testifies to the magni-
ficence and order which prevailed in the institution
under the management of the Jesuits :

‘ There were in this house a hundred and fifty
fathers, and at least as many scholars or students,.

Account of this great number fill that

famous institution noble Structure, which was four
stories high, and had the pleasantest prospect in the
world, as well towards the sea as on the land side..
They first showed us all the conveniences of the
house, their wealth, and the order they observed in
their economy. Then they brought us into a fair
arched hall, as big as an ordinary church, which
was beset with tables placed all along the walls.
The cloth was laid with the trenchers, the drinking
cups, and earthen pots, and they had brought in
bread and fruit. In the midst of the hall, there was
another little square table, covered and furnished as
the rest, for those who were to do penance for their
having done anything contrary to the discipline of
the order. In the midst of the entry to this hall
there was a pillar, out of which issued a spout of
water for the washing of their hands. Then they
carried us up to the third storey, to another hall,
which was not as large as that below, but so richly
furnished as might become the apartment of a ver^
noble house, as well in point of tapestry as other
things. The table prepared for us was very large,
Feart given by and placed in the midst of the hall,
the Jesuits covcrcd with a noble cloth, beset with

fruit and bread and China dishes, which persons of

64 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

quality in those parts do prefer before those of
silver. The Father Provincial having given the
President the precedence sat down by him, and after-
wards ordered all our company to be so placed as
that between every two there were two Jesuits to
entertain and discourse with us ; the rest standing
behind to wait on us. The meat was brought in
little dishes of porcelain, to every man his own
dish; and this for several courses, both of flesh
and 'fish, all excellently well dressed. The
dessert was suitable to the rest of the entertainment,
and consisted in tarts, florentines, eggs dressed
after the Portuguese way, admirably well perfumed,
marchpains, and conserves both dry and liquid.’^

On rising from this sumptuous repast, the guests
were conducted into several chambers where they
B.U a<mc«d by reposed during the great heat of the
Indian children day. Later on they were taken into a
b^»^*****" hall where the ‘ divertisement ’ of a
* ball had been arranged to entertain

them, and which was danced by Indian children
who had been baptised and instructed in the Roman
Catholic faith. The Archbishop of Goa, who was
Primate of all the Indies, was also present there,
both to participate in the ‘ divertisement ’ and to en-
tertain the President, by order of the viceroy. The
ball, the details of which are given at length, being
over, the guests stayed on to hear some music. On
their taking leave of their hosts, the latter informed
them that they made use of such amusements not

* Mandelslo, op. cit., p, 99.

65

MANDELSLO’S VISIT TO GOA

only to induce the Hindus and Muhammadans of
those parts to embrace the Christian religion but
also to amuse the children who had been baptised
and to give them some diversion after their studies.’

On the 18th the visitors were invited to dinner
by the Jesuits of the Professed House of Bom
Invited to the Jssus* which Mandelslo confuses with
Profe»»edHou8ethe College of St. Paul described above,
by the Jesuits ^verc received at the entrance by

some of the ‘most ancient’ Fathers, who showed
them round the halls and chambers hung with
pictures of distinguished persons who had been
members of their order, and who related the history
of those of their society who had suffered martyrdom
for the Christian religion ‘ among whom the authors
of the Gunpowder Plot in England were not the
last. But they forebore giving us the explication
thereof; only they entertained us with a long
relation of the cruelties, exercised some years before,
upon those of their society in Japan, where the
emperor had made use of the most exquisite
torments (that) could be invented, upon the Christ-
ians, as well the foreigners who had spent their

^ Mandelslo, op, cit., pp. 99-100.

* A Professed Home is a convent or the place of abode of a fraternity
that has taken the vows of some religions order.

The Professed Home of the Jesuits at Goa was completed in 1589,
in spite of the opposition of the Municipal Chamber of Goa and the
Franciscans. The celebrated orientalist Anqiaetil du Perron says : ‘ I
could not help admiring the home of the Jesuits, a superb building, which
could have taken its place amongst the most beautiful Religiom Buildings
of Europe J — Zend Avesta, traduit de A. du Perron, Paris (1771) Intro*
duction, vol. 1, p. ccxiv.

6

66 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

endeavours in planting religion in those parts, as upon
the Japonnesses who had made profession thereof.’^

The Fathers next conducted the President and
Mandelslo to the famous Church of Bom Jesus®
The magnificent which was attached to the house and
Church of Bom which Still remains in all its imposing
splendour when so many other magni-
ficient edifices which adorned Old Goa have long
ago crumbled to pieces. Mandelslo’s brief descrip-
tion deserves to be given :

‘ They brought us into the church which is no
question one of the most sumptuous the Jesuits have
in all Asia. The structure is vast and magnificent,
and the ornaments are so suitable to the greatness
thereof that it were not easy to imagine anything
more noble. The first thing we were showed was
the High Altar; but though it were one of the
noblest I ever saw, yet came it not, in wealth, near

^ Mandelslo, op. dt., p. 100.

^ The stately Chiarch of Bom Jesus at Goa was beg^un in 1594 and
consecrated in 1605 and is still in excellent preservation, chiefly because it
contains the tomb of St. Francis Xavier, The fa 9 ade is an elaborate
piece of workmanship and excites the admiration of the spectator. It is
built of black gfranite and is 78 feet high and 75 feet broad. The pillars
supporting the choir within bear two inscriptions, one in Latin and the
other in Portuguese, recording the consecration of the church by Lorn
Aleixo de Menezes, Archbishop of Goa and Primate of the Indies, on
15 May, 1605. On one side of the wall is the cenotaph of Dorn H-
Mascarenhas, Captain of Cochin and Hormaz (Ormuz), at whose cost the
church was built. The main altar contains the statue of the Infant Jesus
as also another very^large image of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the
Sodety of Jesus. There are two chapels, one dedicated to St. Francis
Borgia, the patron saint of Portugal, and the other in honour of the
immortal St, Francis Xavier, whose splendid sarcophagus it contains.
— ^Fonseca, op, dt., pp. 283-6. See also Appendix B,

THE CHURCH OF BOM JESUS AT OLD GOA
Consecrated 15 ]SIay 1605

67

MANDELSLO’S VISIT TO GOA

another lesser one, which had been built in honour
of St. Francis Xavier, whom they call the Apostle
of the Indies. We were showed his image, which
was upon wood, drawn according to the life, but we
were told his body was still to be seen in that
Church, in the same posture as it was at the time of
his departure.’^ Though not specifically mentioned,
Mandelslo must without doubt have seen the coffin
of the saint in the famous chapel dedicated to
St. Francis Xavier in this church.*

Mandelslo gives here the following interesting
account of St. Francis Xavier whose name has
Account of the become immortal in history as the
death of St. ‘ Apostle of the Indies ’ :

Francis Xavier ‘The Jesuits told US that the body

of the said Saint Francis Xavier was found in the
island of Ceylon, and that it was discovered only by
a most delightful smell, which had brought those

* Mandelslo, op. dt., p. 100.

^ In 1624, during the solemnities at Goa connected with his canoniza-
tion, the body of St. Francis Xavier was removed by the Jesuits to the
Church of Bom Jesus from St. Paulas where it had been deposited after it
was brought from Malacca. The ceremonies have been fully described by
Della Valle who was in the city at the time. (See Appendix C.) The
remains were first deposited in the Chapel of St. Francis Borgia, and later
transferred to the beautiful chapel which is named after Francis Xavier.
The interior of this is richly gilded and adorned with 27 choice pictures
representing the life and miracles of the apostle. An altar under the
arch of the chapel supports an image of the saint in solid silver four feet
high gifted in 1670 by a pious Genoese lady who spent ;^'300 on its
execution. The image bears a staff in each hand, one of silver and the
other of Indian cane. The latter is taken by the governors of '’Goa previous
to assuming charge of their office, in exchange for a new one which they
offer to the saint, to secure his protection over the Portuguese territories.
— ^Fonseca, op. dt., pp. 286-9.

68 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

who had found it many leagues distance from the
sea to the place where it was hidden. Which story
does not agree very well with what others write of
the same body. For besides that the scent which is
carried from the island of Ceylon so far into the sea
proceeds from the groves of cinnamon wherewith
that island is in a manner covered, Maffaeus, one of
the gravest authors that ever were of the Society,
says in express terms that Francis Xavier, not satis-
fied with the progress he had made in the Indies by
the means of his preaching the faith of Christ, would
needs try whether it might have the like success in
China, but that he died on the seaside as soon as he
landed. Whereto he adds that the Master of the
Ship, which had carried him thither, caused the
corpse to be put into unslaked lime to the end he
might carry away the bones after the flesh had been
consumed ; but that after certain days that consum-
ing matter had not made any impression upon it,
and that the body instead of being corrupted
smelled very sweetly ; and that thereupon they
resolved to carry it to Goa where it was received
with great ceremonies. They related to us a great
many miracles wrought by that Saint ; but I remem-
ber only two or three of the most considerable ; to
wit, that he had caused the sun to come back an hour
after it was set : that he commanded the sea and the
winds with the same power as our Saviour had some-
times done ; and that he had raised up two men, one
whereof had been buried a whole day before.’^

^ Mandelslo, op. dt., pp. 100-101.

MANDELSLO’S VISIT TO GOA 69

After Mandelslo and the President had been
shown round the great church, they were brought
Dinner at the to the refectory, which was a large
Professed House capable of accommodating two
hundred persons at the tables placed all along the
walls. At dinner only four Fathers, ‘ the chiefest of
the order,’ sat down with the guests, while all the
rest stood and waited on the party. ‘ We were as
well treated by these,’ says our author ‘as we had
been by the others ; but I must confess these gave
us the best canary that ever I drunh.’^ After it
ended they were taken right up to the steeple,

‘ whence we could take a view of all the city, the
sea, the river, and all the adjacent champion, as far
as the mountain, much better than we could have
done from the fourth story of the Professed House
(i.e. the New College of St. Paul).’^

^ Mandelslo, op. cit., p, 101.

* St. Francis Xavier (1506-52), commonly known as the * Apostle of
the Indies ^ was bom in Spain in the castle of Xavier at the foot of the
Pyrenees. After completing his studies at the University of Paris, he joined
Ignatius of Loyola and five others and established the Society of Jesus
in 1534. In 1542 he arrived at Goa in charge of the mission sent by the
King of Portugal to his Indian dominions, and laboured in the east for
the next ten years. The work he accomplished was enormous, for he
inaugurated new missionary enterprises’’ from Ormuz to Japan. At
Travancore he is said to have founded no less than forty-five Christian settle-
ments, and he also visited Ceylon, Malacca, the Malay Archipelago and
Japan. In 1552 he left Goa on a missionary enterprise to China but died
of fever in the island of Chang-Chuen (St. John’s) off the province of
Kwang-Tung (December 2). He was buried dose to the cabin in whichhe
died. But his body was later transferred to Malacca and thence to Goa
(1554) where it was deposited in St. Paul’s in a crystal coflan enclosed in
another of silver. In 1624 the body was removed to the Church of Bom
Jesus where it still lies in a magnificent shrine. (See Appendix D.)

St. Francis Xavier was canonized by the Pope in 1621. Many mira-

70 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

The next morning two of the Fathers came to
the President’s lodgings and took him and his com-
The Royal panion out to see the great hospital
Hoipitai at Goa a,t Goa, of which the Jesuits were then
in charge. It is described by our author as a noble
structure, capable of accommodating above a thou-
sand sick persons and fully equipped with all neces-
sary things. The noblest apartments in the hospital
were the ‘kitchen’ and the ‘apothecary’s shop’
belonging to it, both well furnished. There was at
the time a large number of patients in the infirmary,
most of them suffering from the ‘pox’ or ‘bloody-
flux’. Those whose life was despaired of were
carried to a private room where each was attended
by a priest who remained there till the end came.’^

cles have been ascribed to him, an ofiScial list of which Is preserved in the
Vatican library. Though an ascetic and a mystic, to whom things
spiritual were more real than the visible world, he possessed strong
common sense which made him supreme as an organizer. He seems
also to have had a singularly attractive personality. Not without much
justice has Xavier been regarded as the greatest of Christian mission-
aries since the first century a.d.

For the literature on the life of St. Francis Xavier see Ency. Brit.
(14th ed., vol. XXIII, p. 835) ; also Gray’s note in Pyrard de Laval, op.
cit, vol, n, p, 62.

* Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 101.

The Royal Hospital at Goa was a splendid institution founded by the
great Albuquerque after the conquest of Goa in 1510, and it was the
pride and care of successive vicero 3 rs and kings of Portugal. In 1591 its
administration was placed in the hands of the Jesuits who erected a splendid
building for it, and under their fostering care the hospital acquired great
celebrity. The most detailed account of the Institution is that given by
Pyrard de Laval who was treated here in 1608. (See Appendix E.)
Tavernier first visited it in 1641, only two years after Mandelslo, and again
in 1648. He says that it * was formerly renowned throughout India but
that on his second \dsit he found that the inmates were not well treated

71

MANDELSLO’S VISIT TO GOA

The last institution among the religious edifices
of Old Goa to be visited was the monastery of the
The monartery of Augustines which was also known
the Auguttinei under the name of the Convent of our
Lady of Grace. ‘ It is seated,' says our traveller,

‘ upon a little eminency, so that seeing it at a certain
distance, a man would take it for one of the noblest
palaces in the world.’ The friars conducted them
round the building and redoubled their civilities
when Mandelslo delivered to them the letters of
recommendation which the Augustines at Ispahan
had given to him in Persia for the purpose.

(Tavernier, op. cit,, vol. I, p. 198). Even in the days of its greatness, the
mortality in the hospital appears to have been excessive (Pyrard de Laval^
vol. II, p. 11). No doubt this was largely due to cholera, scurvy, enteric
and venereal diseases with which the science of the time was not able to
deal. The practice of bleeding patients as often as thirty or forty times
had also something to do with this heavy toll of life (Fryer, East India
and Persia, Hakluyt Society (1909-12) vol. II, p. 14). The hospital was
intended only for soldiers and for such as had no home in the city. See
also Fonseca, op. cit., pp. 228-36.

CHAPTER VIII

MANDELSLO’S GENERAL ACCOUNT
OF THE PORTUGUESE IN GOA

President Methwold at last completed his
business with the viceroy who paid him nine
Methwoia take* ^housand pounds sterling in ready
leave of hi* bolt* money, and promised that the rest
who lend him would bc paid, either in money or in
large preaent* commodities, to those English mer-
chants whom the President had for that purpose
brought with him from Surat. Methwold now took
leave of all those whose civilities he had received.
The viceroy, the general of the galleons, and the
principal lords about the court sent him very con-
siderable presents. The viceroy presented him with
several skins of cinnamon, a biggel,^ some butts of
sack, sheep and baskets of fruit. The Jesuits sent
him aquavitae,^ a good store of all sorts of con-
serves, dry and liquid, and requested that he would
take along with him to England certain Jesuits, one
of whom had lived long enough in China to be
thoroughly acquainted with that country.

^ The biggel is apparently the nUgau or bine cow. Mandelslo
says that with the horses in the viceroy's establishment at Goa he saw a
biggel, ‘ which is a creatnre about the bigness and much the same colour
as a but is headed like a horse, maned like an ass, having black and
cloven feet, and upon his head two black horns.'— Mandelslo, op. dt., p. 98 .

* Aquavitae (A. water of life) any form of ardent spirits such as
brandy, whisky, etc.

ACCOUNT OF THE PORTUGUESE IN GOA 73

Mandelslo’s Travels refer to a very important
topical episode at the time of his arrival at Goa,
Blockade of Goa namely, the fact of the port being then
by the Dutch in Under a formal blockade imposed by
January, 1639 ^ dozen Dutch ships. This was the

very period when Portuguese supremacy at sea and
their possessions in the east were challenged by
this energetic Protestant nation ; and throughout the
first half of the seventeenth century the power of
the former was on the decline/ The blockade by
the Hollanders, however, could only prevent the
galleons and the carracks" from leaving the harbour,
for Mandelslo saw one day about three hundred
frigates and boats enter the port and proceed up
the river to the city laden with all sorts of provisions
and commodities such as pepper, ginger, cardamon,
sugar, rice, fruits and conserves/

On 20 January 1639, the President and his party
left the city of Goa by the river, and as soon as they
FinJ vi.it to the got out of it they made for the
General of die general’s galleon which was called
Galleon. Jesus and which is described

as ‘ one of the noblest vessels I ever saw ’, for it

^ * Before the Dutch had beaten down, the power of the Portuguese
in India, one saw at Goa nothing but magnificence and wealth, but since
these late comers have deprived them of their trade in all directions, they
have lost the sources of their gold and silver, and are altogether come down
from their former splendour.’ — Tavernier, Travels in India^ translated by
Ball, London (1889) vol. I, p. 187.

* * These canacks are ordinairily of 1,500 to 2,000 tons’ burthen,

sometimes more, so that they are the largest v^sels in the world ; they
cannot float in less than ten fathoms of Voyage of Pyrard de

Laval, translated by Gray and Bell, Hakluyt Society (1887) vol. H, p. 181.

* Mandelslo, op. dt., pp. 98, 102.

74 MANDELSLO’S TRAVEI^ IN WESTERN INDIA

carried 60 brass guns, all cannon or culverings,
with 600 men, mariners and soldiers, on board :

‘ The general received the President with much
civility, and brought him into his chamber, and after
a collation of conserves and sack, contrary to the
custom of the Portuguese, who never proffer a man
drink unless he ask for it, he showed us all the ship,
which had the name of a galleon, but might very
well be accounted a carrack by reason of the bigness
of it. The other vessels of the fleet were also very
noble ones, there being not any one among them
that had not fifty guns at least.’ ^

The President at last took leave and came on
board the Mary to the booming of guns from the
Departure from Portuguese fleet, and his ship took up
Goa, 23 January a position in the roadstead between
the two hostile fleets. After two days,
on the 22nd, Methwold dismissed the two ships that
had come with him from Surat and which were
to carry thither the money that had been received
at Goa.“ The admiral in charge of the Dutch fleet,
whose name is given as Van Keulen,® was expected
to pay him a visit in view of the fact that he had

* Mandelslo, op. dt., p. 102.

* Two ships, the Blessing and the Michael^ had accompanied the
Mary from Surat to Goa. The former was old and worn out and it was
intended to sell her to the Portuguese. The pinnace Michael was to
bring back the crew of the Blessing and also Cogan and Wylde, two
members of the Surat council, who had accompanied the ex-President
Methwold to Goa to receive the money promised by the viceroy and to
assist in the disposal of the other ship. — English Factories in India
(1637-41) edited by Poster pp. 88, 118-9.

* The name is Antonio Caen according to the Hague Transcripts,
series I, vol. XI, nos. 3^, 358, 360.

ACCOUNT OF THE PORTUGUESE IN GOA 75

requested the President to convey some of his
letters to his superiors in Europe. But finding at
last that the Dutch fleet had sailed away in the
direction of Ceylon, Methwold gave orders to
proceed on the voyage."*

Mandelslo at this stage devotes several pages to
a general account of the city of Goa,* including
GenemUccount i^s topography, its Portuguese in-
of Ck>a and Portu- habitants, the habits of their women,
India Hindus and Muslims of

this place, the court, the powers of the viceroys
and other topics. We shall very briefly review
this account, indicating some of the interesting
features of the life of the people and the character
of the government.

The name of the viceroy at Goa at the time of
Mandelslo’s visit was Dom Pedro da Silva, but we
The viceroy* are told that his person was not in
G®* conformity with his high position.*

He had about him a court of more than fifty gentle-

^ Mandelslo, op. cit,, p. 108.

* Dr* J. Fryer (1675) says : ‘ The dty is a Rome in India, both for
absoluteness and fabrics, the chiefest consisting of churches, and convents,
or religious houses .’— India and Persia^ Halduyt Society (1909-12)
vol. II, p. 26.

* One of the best accounts of the viceroys of Portuguese India, their
court, their m^^cence and their government is given by Pyrard de
Laval, op. cit, vol. H, p, 76-88. For example :

’ The viceroy treats none with familiarity, nor ever goes to assem*
blies or banquets. He goes abroad but rarely, except on the great
festivals. On the evening preceding the day when he intends to go forth,
drums and trumpets are sotmded throughout the whole town as a warn-
ing to the nobility, 'who assemble in the early morning before the palace,
all on horseback and in grand array.’— pp. 78-9.

76 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

men who gave him the same respect that was due to
the king in Europe. The viceroy was changed
about every three years : partly because the king
thought it unsafe to allow a subject to hold such a
dignity for long, and also because the King of Spain
desired to distribute his patronage among a large
number of his nobles so as to enable them to amass
a fortune in a short period.^ This was possible
because the court of the viceroy at Goa was main-
tained at the king’s expense and also because the
disposal of all the revenues was left in his hands.
Every year the viceroy made an extensive tour over
the territories under his control, and this brought
him a large sum of money by way of presents from
the neighbouring princes and from the governors and
other subordinate officers.* The viceroy was supreme
civil and criminal judge and only in rare cases was an

^ ‘ This frequent change of viceroys is displeasing to the Portuguese
and to the Indians as is no less that of the governors of the various forts
and other officers. To illustrate which they tell a parable, how that one
day there lay a poor man at the door of a church, his legs full of ulcers,
and so covered with flies as was pitiful to behold ; up came a neighbour
who, thinking to do him a kindness, drove away the flies : whereat the
poor patient was much vexed, saying that the flies he drove away already
had their bellies full, and would not bite him more, whereas those that
would come would be hungry and would sting him worse. So it is, they
say, with the viceroys, for the gorged depart and the hungry arrive/
— Pyrxird de Laml^ op. cit., vol. II, p. 87.

* Tavernier says : * It was formerly one of the most splendid posts
in the world for a noble to be viceroy of Goa, and there are few monarchs
who are able to bestow governments worth so much as are those which
depend upon this viceroy.’— op, cit., vol. I, p. 190. These governors, who
were appointed by the viceroy, also held office for three years. There were
five of them in charge respectively of Mozambique, Malacca, Hormaz,
Muscat and Ceylon. Besides these the viceroy had the patronage of a
number of high offices in Goa and other places.

ACCOUNT OF THE PORTUGUESE IN GOA 77

appeal allowed to the king. At his arrival in the
Indies a new viceroy used generally to land at the
island of Bardes, to the north of the capital, from which
place he sent his agents to Goa to take possession
of the new charge and all its appurtenances. His
predecessor made way for him on the first news
of his arrival, unfurnished the palace, and left him
only the guards and the bare walls.^

The Portuguese inhabitants of Goa are described
as falling into two classes: the Castigos, born of
The Catiicot and Portuguese parents; and Mestigos,
theMeiticot bom of a Portuguese father and an
Indian mother.® The latter were distinguished by
their olive colour, and those of the third gener-
ation were as dark as the natives of the country.
Persons of quality never went abroad on foot ; but
were either carried about in a palankeen by their
slaves, or rode on horseback or went in gilt and
painted gondolas. They were always attended by a
slave who carried a fan or an umbrella. The
Portuguese, says Mandelslo, had the reputation of
being highly conceited of themselves ; but those of
Goa were prouder in their gait and actions than
any others of their nationality.® They were also

^ Mandelslo, op. dt., p, 108.

® ‘ The Portuguese, whether of Europe or Brazil, are at Goa called
indifferently Frangues or Fringuins ; those born in India of pure Portu-
guese blood, Casti 90 s, corresponding to the Creoles of America; half-
castes are Mesii^osJ — Pyrard de Laval, op. dt., vol. II, p. 38 n,

* ^ The Portuguese who go to India have no sooner passed the Cape
of Good Hope than they all become Fidalgos or gentlemen, and add Dom
to the simple name of Pedro or Jeronimo which they carried when they
embarked ; this is the reason why they are commonly called in derision
* Fidalgos of the Cape of Good Hope.’ — ^Tavernier, op. cit., vol. I, p. 188.

78 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

most punctilious and ‘excessively civil one to
another ’ in their social life.^

Mandelslo’s account of the dress and habits of
the Portuguese women at Goa is interesting. His
Decline of reference to the decay of Portuguese
PortuKueee morals, both among the men and women,
and the general corruption of society,
is amply confirmed by the French traveller Pyrard
de Laval who resided in Goa for twenty months
some thirty years before the visit of the German
traveller. This social decline has generally been
acknowledged by historians to form, along with the
implacable hostility of the Dutch and the devastating
effects of successive epidemics, one of the causes of
the decline and fall of Portuguese greatness in the
east."

‘ There are few Portuguese women or Mestizos,’
says Mandelslo, ‘ seen going about the city ;
Dress and when they go abroad, either to

manners of church Or upon neccssary visits, they
their women Carried in close palankeens or are
attended and watched by so many slaves that it is
impossible to speak to them. When they appear in
public, they are all very richly attired in velvet,
flowered satin, or brocado, and adorned with
abundance of pearls and precious stones;* but at

^ MandelslO; op. cit., p. 103.

* For other causes see H. Heras, * The Decay of the Portuguese in
India*, Journal of the Bombay Historical Society ^ 1928, vol. I, pp. 36-41*

* ^ The rich ladies of quality go but seldom to church, save on the
great feast days, and then superbly attired in the Portuguese mode. Their
gowns for the most part are of gold, silk, and silver brocade, enriched with

ACCOUNT OF THE PORTUGUESE IN GOA 7&

home they go in their hair, and have about them
only a smock which reaches to the navel ; and thence
downwards they have petticoats of painted cloths
falling down to the feet, which are bare/ They eat
no bread, as liking the rice better, now that they are
accustomed to it ; nor do they fare over-deliciously
as to other things, their ordinary sustenance being
salt fish, mangas,* or only rice soaked in a little
flesh or fish-broth. They make use of certain bottles
made of a kind of black earth, which they call
gorgolettes,* and have a pipe coming up to the brims
so that they may suck up the water without lifting up
the bottles to their mouths.’*

The corruption of morals was perhaps the most

pearls, gems and jewels at the head, arms, hands, and waist. Over all they
wear a veil of the finest crape in the world, reaching from the head to the-
foot. They never wear stockings. Their pattens, or chapins, are open
above, and cover only the soles of the feet ; but they are all broidered with
gold and silver, hammered in thin plates which reach over the lower
surface of the chapin^ the upper part being covered with pearls and genus
and the soles half a foot thick with cork .^ — Pyrard de Lavaly op. dt.,
vol.n, p.102.

^ * The women take their ease in their smocks or bafuSy which are
more transparent and fine than the most delicate crape of these parts ; so*
that their skin shows beneath as clearly as if they had nothing on ; more
than that, they expose the bosom to such an extent that one can see quite
down to the waist .’ — Pyrard de Lamly op. cit., vol. 33, p* 112.

* Mangos de velludo (Port. = velvet sleeves) are a kind of sea-mew,
white all over the body and having black wings. Mandelslo, op. cit.,
p. 248.

^ Gorgoleta (Port.) are earthen and narrow-mouthed vessels for
storing d rinking water. They are so called from the gurgling sound that is
made when water is poured out of them into the mouth from a distance, so as
to avoid contact. The word is still current under the form of ' goglet
The Tu dians call it kunia,--Pyrard de Lavaly op. dt., vol. I, p. 329 n \ vok
n, p. 74 ,' Fryer, op. dt, vol. I, p. 125.

^ Maudelslo, op. dt., p. 105.

80 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

serious canker in Portuguese society at Goa during
the first half of the seventeenth century, and the
reference to it may be given here :

‘ The men there are so jealous of their wives that
they permit not their nearest relations to see them
for chastity is so strange a virtue in those parts,
that there is no woman but contrives all the ways
imaginable to pursue her enjoyments, never minding
the breach of those laws which God and nature
hath imposed upon them, though the frequent
misfortunes which happen upon th.at occasion should
engage them to be more cautious and reserved.
The perpetual idle life they lead makes them
so high in their desires for they do not anything
of business in the world but spend the day in
chewing of beetle, which adds fuel to the flames,
as do also the cloves and nutmegs which they eat
out of an imagination that they prevent the corrup-
tions of the teeth and stomach, which commonly
make the breath stink.”*

Employment of Slavery appears to have been an
accepted institution in Portuguese
India, though there is no evidence to show that

^ Fryer says : * They beings jealous of their honour, pardon no affront ;
wherefore to ogle a lady in a balcony (if a person of quality) it is revenged
with a bocca mortis ’ (Port, bacamarie = a blunderbuss),^ — op. cit., vol. 11,
p* 26. So also Tavernier : ‘ It may be said that the Portuguese dwelling in
India are the most vindictive and the most jealous of their women of all
the people in the world,* — op, dt., vol. I, p. 188,

* Mandelslo, op. dt., p, 105. cf. Pyrctrd de Lavaly op. dt., vol. II,
pp. 113-14 ; Fonseca, Sketch of the City of Goa, pp, 161-2 ; Voyage of
/. Huyghen van Linschoten, edited by Burnell and Tiele, Hakluyt Sodety,
(1885) vol. I, pp. 208-14.

ACCOUNT OF THE PORTUGUESE IN GOA 81

the masters were inhuman in their treatment of
this unfortunate class :

‘ Most of the Portuguese,’ says our traveller,
have many slaves of both sexes, ^ whom they employ
not only about their persons, but also upon any
other business they are capable of, for what they
get comes in to the master. Whence it comes that
handsome wenches are sought after, to be employed
in the selling of fruits and such commodities as the
Portuguese send to market, to the end their beauty
might draw in customers. Their keeping, as to
diet, stands them in very little. The children born
between slaves belong to the master, unless the
father will redeem them within eight or ten days
after they are born.’ *

The old city of Goa still maintained its position
as the centre of a very flourishing trade which was
Goa an emporium Carried ou by the Portuguese with
of trade Bengal, Pegu, Malacca, China and

Gujarat :

‘ No person of quality at Goa but goes once a
day to the market, whither the merchants, nay most
gentlemen come, as well to hear what news there
is, as to see what there is to be sold ; for, from 7 in
the morning to 9 (after which the heat is such as

* P 3 nrard de Laval gfives a good account of the sale of slaves in the
market-place at Gk)a. * In this place are to be seen numbers of slaves
whom they drive there as we do horses here ; and you see that sellers
come with great troops following.* — op. cit., voL II, pp. 65-6. Again,

^ As for the slaves of Goa, their number is infinite ; they are of all the Indian
nations, and a very great traflfic is done in them. They are exported to
Portugal and to all places under the Portuguese dominion.’ — ^ibid., p. 39,

* Mandelslo, op. dt,, pp. lQS-6.

7

82 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

that a man is not able to stay there) the public
criers, whom they call laylon, sell there by outcry
all sorts of commodities, but especially slaves of
both sexes and jewels . . . There are also to be
sold there Persian and Arabian horses, spices, all
sorts of aromatic gums, alcatifs, porcelain, vessels of
agate, several things made of lacque, and whatever
is thought precious or rare in any other part of the
Indies. Merchants and tradesmen are distinguished
by streets; so that silkmen are not shuffled in
among linen drapers, nor the druggists among those
who sell porcelain. The greatest profit they make
is in the exchange of money.”

In the account of the Hindu residents of Goa,
one point deserving notice is that there were among
Tiie Hindu them Several able physicians who

population Were so highly respected at Goa that

they were permitted to have their umbrellas carried
with them, a privilege which was extended only to
persons of quality. We are also told that the
Portuguese, and even the viceroy and the archbishop,
requisitioned the service of these physicians in
preference to those of their own nation.

* The principal thoroughfare and business centre at Goa was the
Rm Direitay or the Straight Avenue, which was lined on both sides by
fine buildings where lapidaries, goldsmiths, bankers and all the leading
merchants and artisans at Gk>a carried on their business. There were
Portuguese, Germans, Italians, etc. The locality was, densely thronged by
people who attended auction sales held there from morning to noon. —
Fonseca, op. dt., p. 198. Mandelslo says that the public criers were
called /fljy/ow, while P3n:ard (op. dt., vol. II, p. 52) gives this name to the
locality. The Portuguese word leilao = auction is oriental in origin,
being derived from the Arabic proclamation or advertisement.

ACCOUNT OF THE PORTUGUESE IN GOA 83

With the above survey of Mandelslo’s account of
the city and people of Goa, we shall resume our
sketch of his voyage. On 22 January his ship crossed
Arrival at Goa bar and, sailing along the Malabar

Cerion coast, reached the island of Ceylon on

the 29th. Here, says our author, ‘ we were fixed as
immovable by a calm which lasted three weeks com-
plete,’ and it was not till 20 February that the
Mary was in a position, on account of favourable
winds, to proceed on her voyage across the Indian
Ocean towards the coast of South Africa.

At this stage the work which goes under
Mandelslo’s name enters into a long and elaborate
Interpolation on digression couceming the countries
the countrie. of of the Far East, namely Pegu, Siam,
theF*rEa*t Cambodia, Java, Amboyna, the Philli-
pines, Japan and China. This covers no less than
127 pages of the English folio edition,^ with closely
printed matter, and forms more than one-third of the
work. Practically the whole of the second of the
three books in which his voyages and travels are
treated is devoted to the above-mentioned countries.
In view of the fact that Mandelslo never went
beyond Ceylon, and never visited any of these
eastern islands and kingdoms, it is conclusive that
the account is the work of his French translator, as
stated in Davies’ Introduction.

In the light of the conclusion mentioned above,
it is interesting to note the following passage which
appears to have been specially inserted by the

^ Namely, pp. 115-242.

84 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

French translator, A. de Wicquefort, to put the
reader under the impression that the account of
these Far-Eastern lands was derived by Mandelslo
from the Jesuits on board his ship :

‘ The calm stayed our ship hard by this isle
(Ceylon) for near upon three weeks, which I
employed in enquiring of our President and certain
Jesuits, who were aboard our vessels, into this
pleasant part of the Indies which I had never seen,
and merits to be known by the Description I shall
make from the report of these persons amongst
whom there were some who had spent there the
best part of their lives. I will then begin with the
place where we were, and faithfully deliver you all
I could learn of those kingdoms and provinces
which without question are the wealthiest of any in
the world.’^

^ Mandelslo, op. cit„ pp. 115-6.

CHAPTER IX

MANDELSLO’S VOYAGE FROM CEYLON
TO THE ENGLISH CHANNEL

Having so closely followed our interesting
traveller through the cities of western India, the
Plan of the re»i reader must naturally wish to have
of the work somc information about the last period
of Mandelslo’s travels after he left the Indian
peninsula. We propose, therefore, to devote this
chapter to a summary of his long voyage to Europe,
and shall reserve the last chapter for an account of
his stay in England as a guest of the English
President and his journey across the Netherlands
to his home in north Germany, which he reached
on 1 May 1640.

After the three weeks’ enforced stay off the
island of Ceylon, the Mary, taking advantage of the
The Ma/s cro*»e» Dorth-west wind, directed her course
the Indian Ocean across the Indian Ocean for the
to the Cape voyage homewards on 20 February
1639. A month later, in mid-ocean, the action
of a butler, who set fire to a vat which he had
filled with aquavilae, nearly caused the ruin of the
ship, as it was laden with all sorts of gums and
other fatty drugs ; the fire was however smothered
before it could spread. Passing by Maurice Island^

^ This is Maurititis, named by the Dutch Maurice Island, ‘from
the Prince of Orange who was Admiral of the United Provinces at the

86 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

the ship reached the south coast of Africa, and,
rounding the Cape d’AguIhas and the False Cape,
arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on 5 May.
Mandelslo gives an account of the savage inhabi-
tants (Hottentots) of this part of Africa who
lived on dead animals and dead whales cast up
by the sea on the shore, who knew neither God nor
the devil, and whose only enemies were the lions.^

The further progress of the vessel was now
hindered by very tempestuous weather and a succes-
Terribie storm* ^ion of terrific hurricanes which nearly
at the Capo of wrecked the ship, and which decided
Good Hope captain and the President to

divert their course and proceed to the island of
Madagascar, there to pass the monsoon until the
seas were calm, and also to refit the vessel with
the necessary water and provisions. Mandelslo’s
account of the situation deserves to be quoted :

‘May 26. The wind increased so by degrees
that we were forced to take in all but the main sail,
which was not taken in till the wind grew so violent
as if it would have confounded all the elements, to
swallow us up in the disaster. Nay its fury was such
that our ship, which had resisted all before as a
rock, was tossed by the waves like a little boat, I
must confess it was through God’s infinite mercy to
us that we escaped that danger, wherein we were in

time of their first voyage into the Indies.’ — ^Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 246.
Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange (1567-1625) was the second son of
William the Silent, and became Stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland on his
father’s assassination in 1584.

* Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 250.

FROM CEYLON TO THE ENGLISH CHANNEL 87

all likelihood to perish, since it was a kind of
miracle that the masts stood, considering the
violence of the winds was such as might have
rooted up the strongest trees.’ ^

On the way to Madagascar the fact is recorded
that on Whit Sunday a tiger cub which had been
The (hip brought from Surat bit the President

arrives at in the hand and would have wrenched

Madagascar jy^^ndelslo and others

come to timely assistance.® On 2 July, the ship
reached Madagascar and cast anchor in the Bay of
St. Augustine. Here it remained for over six weeks
after which it resumed its voyage back to the Cape.
The President had a tent pitched for himself by the
seaside, and huts were put up for the soldiers and
others who carried out certain repairs on the land,
as also for the butchers who killed and salted the
beef for the provision of the ship. But on Sundays
all came on board, where a sermon was given.

By a happy coincidence the President had the
pleasure of meeting at this place three other English
Meeu with other vessels. One of thcse was encounter-
EngUshveiieUat ed a week before the arrival at the
thisHiand island. It was of SOO tons’ burden,
belonged to the new Company and was under the
command of Captain Hall. It had left England
some four months before and was bound for the
Indies. The other two vcissels were found at anchor

* Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 251.

* The tiger cub was probably intended for a present to King Charles
I ; but having proved vicious on the voy^^e it had to be destroyed*
— English Factories in India (1637-41) edited by Foster, p. xv.

88 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

in the bay, both of them belonging to the old
company: one of these, called the London, was a
large ship of 1,400 tons, commanded by Captain
Willis. All the captains offered to supply the
President with cordage and sails and other things
necessary for the prosecution of his voyage.
Methwold invited them and the officers of the ships to
dinner. Some days later. Captain Willis treated the
whole company, and entertained it with a comedy
which lasted about three hours. After some ten
days, the two ships bound for India left the island.^
Mandelslo gives a lively account of his stay
at the island of Madagascar.* One of the chiefs
Barter of good, of these parts came over to see
with the people him accompanicd by his three sons
of the place ^ retinue of about a hundred

men armed with pikes. The eldest of the three
brothers presented the President with twelve goats
and each of his two wives gave a fat capon. In
return Methwold offered him three strings of glass
coral, each of his brothers two, and each of the
wives a bracelet. Their value was insignificant but
the recipients valued them highly. They planted ai
great pole in the ground as a mark of the alliance,
and having asked to hear English music were much
pleased with it. Then followed some exchange of
commodities on the basis of truck or barter. A fat

* The London anchored in * Swally Hole ^ at Surat on September 20,
1639 * with her people all in good health \ — English Factories in India
(1637-41) edited by Foster, p. 194.

* An interpolation on the history and inhatatants of Madagascar
covers pp. 254-6 of the English (1662) edition.

PROM CEYLON TO THE ENGLISH CHANNEL 89

sheep, the tail whereof weighed 20 or 24 pounds, was
bought for seven or eight grains of coral or agate, and
a capon for three or four grains of counterfeit coral.
‘ They would not,’ says our traveller, ‘ meddle with
our money, as being so happy as not to know the
value of a thing which occasions the misery of other
parts of the world.’^ Some time before this four
oxen had been purchased for forty pairs of glass
bracelets, a sheep for two, and a calf for three ; and
‘ for a brass ring, ten or twelve inches about, a man
might have an ox worth six or seven pounds

After over six weeks’ stay at Madagascar, the
President’s ship left the island on 21 August
Retomptionof *0 prosecute her voyage, after having
thevoyajeto purchased from the native chiefs of
the Cape place 25 fat oxen and about 100

sheep and goats, in addition to the 150 oxen which
had been bought during their abode on the island,
so that the ship might not be in want of fresh meat
during the remainder of the voyage. The Mary now
proceeded with a favourable wind and, rounding the
Cape further south than before, at last reached the
island of St Helena on 6 October, this being the place
at which every East Indiaman used to touch.* The
description of the place by Mandelslo’s editor gives
a very favourable idea of the island. ‘ At this place,’

* Mandelslo, op, cit., p. 254.

* Mandelslo, or rather his editor, leav^ iis tmder the impression
that the ship actually touched at St Helena. But the log of the Mary
says very definitely that ‘ finding that they had shot past the island,
they resumed the voyage \ (See Appendix to this chapter.) There is a
slight discrepancy in the dates mentioned.

30 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

he says, ‘ a man may have at any time of the year figs,
pomegranates, citrons and oranges, and there are
The island of goats, swine, barbary hens, pheasants,
.St. Helena partridges, quails, peacocks, pigeons,
and great store of all sorts of birds, and also
salt for the keeping of them ; so that the ships might
be sufficiently provided with all things if they would
stay there any time. The sea supplies it with more
fish than can be consumed, and the earth brings
forth so many excellent herbs that the Portuguese,
unwilling to retard their voyage, leave at this place
their sick men who recover their health within a
few days, and having only a little oil, rice, bisket
and spice, make a shift to live there till the ships
come thither the next year.’^

Though Mandelslo’s ship, being now well pro-
vided with water and provisions, did not touch at
. the islands of Ascension and St.

■gretnons Thomas, Or at Cape Verde, we find

these places carefully described in his work. So also
is there a very long interpolation about the history,
manners and customs of the people inhabiting the
Guinea coast, the Kingdom of the Congo and the
Canary Islands.* There is little doubt that all this
elaborate disquisition is from the pen of the ‘ learned ’
Olearius, or more probably from that of the French
editor De Wicquefort, for we come across in these
digressions such dates as 6 May 1642,’ which are
later than the end of Mandelslo’s travels.

‘ Maqdelslo, op. dt., p. 261. • ibid., pp. 26^71, 273-8.

* ibid., p. 273.

FROM CEYLON TO THE ENGLISH CHANNEL 91

After passing Cape Verde on 3 November, the
ship sailed past the island of Flores near the Azores
Arrival on the Archipelago in the north Atlantic on
coaat of England 29th of the Same month. On
11 December the Mary sighted Land’s End, at the
extreme end of the county of Cornwall, and entered
the English Channel. The long voyage ended on
16 December 1639, when the Mary passed in sight
of Dover Castle and at noon came to the Downs.
‘ We cast anchor here,’ says our author ‘ near three
men-of-war which lay at anchor in the same road ;
and thus we completed our voyage in the 12th
month after our departure from Surat.’ ^

* Mandelslo, op, cit., p. 279.

CHAPTER X

MANDELSLO’S ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND
AND THE LAST DAYS OF HIS TRAVELS

There were over a hundred vessels lying at
anchor in the Downs when Mandelslo and the
English President arrived there at

Pr“fdtnt“nT.iiy “ joumey, nearly

drowned in the twelvc months after their departure

admiral, who
commanded the men-of-war, sent his
shallop to congratulate the President on his safe
return. On the 19th he invited Methwold to dinner,
and Mandelslo, who accompanied him, expresses his
surprise at the ‘ prodigious quantity of silver plate ’
and the sumptuously furnished table. After dinner
they had no sooner entered their boat to return than
a great tempest arose and it was impossible to reach
their ship, which was not more than a musket-shot
from the admiral’s. It was a terrible night, and all
in the boat were in water up to the waist when,
after four hours’ tossing about, they discovered and
entered a small vessel which had lost all its anchors

but one. This proved hardly more safe than the boat
they had left, but they held on grimly until the next
morning when, the tempest having subsided, they
were brought to their own ship more than half dead
from fright and fatigue. ' We were received,’ says

93

MANDELSLO'S ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND

Mandelslo, ‘as persons risen from the dead, inas-
much as all who had seen our boat carried away by
the violence of the winds had given us over for
irrecoverably lost ; nay, so far did they despair of
ever seeing us again, that they had already bewailed
our death.’ ^

Mandelslo and the President went on shore on
26 December and reached the cathedral town of
. , . Canterbury the same night. Passing

where the Pre>i- by Gravescnd they reached London
dent receive* a gn the 28th, and here certain deputies

warm welcome r t-' j. t v i

of the East India Company awaited the
President’s arrival in eight coaches at Blackwall.
With them came Methwold’s wife whom her hus-
band had not seen for seven years. The President
would needs have Mandelslo salute her in the
English way and at the same time invited him to
his home as his guest, there to participate in the
honours done him on his arrival. On 30 December
our traveller visited the East India House and per-
sonally thanked the officers there for the civilities he
had received from the President.® On 2 January
1640, the Lord Mayor of London invited both and
they had a long conversation, the former recounting
stories of hardships and sufferings at sea far greater

^ Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 279.

* On Mandelslo^s arrival in England the Company at first decided to
make him pay for his passage, the decision on this point having been left
to it by the Surat authorities. (See p. 56 n.) But afterwards, at Methwold’s
suggestion, this claim was relinquished : whereupon Mandelslo gave £5
to the poor-box in acknowledgement of the Company’s kindness. — Eng-
lish Factories in India (1637-41) edited by Foster, p, 118

94 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA
than any encountered by his guests on their long
voyage.^

A few days later, Mandelslo had the honour of
being presented to His Majesty King Charles I on
, , , the eve of the outbreak of that mo-

Mandelslo . , . ,

presented to Kin* mentous Revolution which was to cost
Charles I and the ^^6 latter both his crowu and his life.

‘ The sixth of January (1640),’ says
our traveller, ‘being Twelfth-day, the King of Eng-
land touched many that were troubled with the Evil.*
That ceremony ended, my Lord Strafford brought
me to His Majesty who was pleased to honour me
with the kissing of his hand. The next day the
same lord procured me the like honour from the
Queen; besides which he did me several other
extraordinary favours upon all occasions. After-
wards I went often to court, where Their Majesties
were pleased I should entertain them with some
particulars of my Travels, especially as to what I
had observed in Muscovy and Persia.’*

Mandelslo’s stay in London was prolonged for
three months partly to refresh him from the effects
He stay* in voyagc homc, as also in

London for three expectation of some money from his
month* Prince, the Duke of Holstein, to

enable him to requite his obligations to those who
had treated him so kindly from the date of his

^ Mandelslo, op. dt., 280.

* ie., the Mng^s evil or scrofnla. The royal touch was supposed to
cure the disease. The king- gave a gold coin to those touched by him for
'the evil’.

® Mandelslo, op. dt., p. 283.

MANDELSLO’S ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND 9S

arrival at Surat to that time, and to furnish him
with the means of returning to his own country.
These months were pleasantly spent in attending
the court where he had made several acquaintances-
and in visiting the public and private structures
of the famous city, such as Whitehall, St. James’s,
Hampton Court, Windsor, Westminster Hall, the
Abbey, the Tower and Greenwich.

Mandelslo at last left London on 20 March 1640'
for the Low Countries on his way to his native land.
Pa*(ei through Crossing the Channel from Dover to
tile Netherlands Dunkirk he travelled by easy stages
on his way to through the Duchies of Flanders and
Holstein Brabant by way of Bruges, Ghent,

Brussels, Louvain and Antwerp. Entering the
United Provinces of Holland his route lay through
Breda, Gertrudenberg, Rotterdam, The Hague
and Leyden to Haarlem, which was then the biggest
town in Holland after the capital and is famous
for the invention of printing in 1420-40. On
15 April, Mandelslo entered the great emporium
of Amsterdam, having taken over three weeks
since leaving London.

Holland was during the first half of the
seventeenth century one of the great powers of
«■ . £ .L Europe and the Dutch nation had at

splendour of this period secured the monopoly of
Amsterdam in Carrying trade of the world.

1640 Under these circumstances there were

few capitals in Europe that could rival Amsterdam
in population, wealth and commercial activity.

96 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

Mandelslo, during his stay in the Indies, had heard
much about the greatness of this capital, but what
he saw now far surpassed his expectations, and he
gives a long account of it in his Travels. The
Exchanges at London and Antwerp, he tells us,
were indeed noble places ,* but that of Amsterdam
far surpassed the other two in regard to the number
of merchants daily resorting there at noon/ It
seemed to him that ‘ the East and the North had
brought thither all their commodities, whereof there
were in the shops but the patterns, whereas the
main stock was disposed into store-houses, public
weighing places, sledges in the streets, the quays
and the flat-bottomed boats which unload the great
ships.’*

Our traveller was so struck with the splendour
and wealth of the Dutch capital that he was at a loss
AU-round great- decide what he should admire most
new of the in that great city : whether its com-
Dutch capital mercc which was greater than that of
all the other cities of the Low Countries put together;
or the neatness and the ‘ sweetness ’ of its streets ;
or the magnificence of its public and private build-
ings ; or the largeness of its port wherein seven or
eight hundred ships lay at anchor at all times ; or
the order and policy observed by its ‘ Magistrate ’
in all things relating to the trade and welfare of the
city.

Mandelslo especially refers to the headquarters
of the Dutch East India Company in Amsterdam.

* Mandelslo, op. at,, p. 286. ^ ibid., p. 284.

MANDELSLO’S ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND 97

‘ When I saw,’ he says, ‘ the storehouses and
Dutch East India magazines, reaching at a great distance
House described from the East India House, full of

spices, silks, stuffs, porcelain and whatever China
and the Indies afford that is most rare, I thought
Ceylon had sent thither all its cinnamon, the
Moluccas all their cloves, the Islands of Sumatra
and Java all their spices, China all its rich stuffs,
Japan its excellent works of several kinds, and
the rest of the Indies its pepper and silk.’^

After a week’s stay at Amsterdam, Mandelslo
took ship on 23 April for Hamburg which he
Arrival at Gottorp reached five days later. After resting
in Holstein town for a day, he arrived on

1 May 1640 at Gottorp in Holstein which was his
destination, and presented himself before Their
Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Holstein, ‘ and
so put a period to my long and toilsome T ravels.’

We thus take leave of Mandelslo, a cultured and
gallant gentleman, possessed of prudence and
Character of discretion beyond his years, and
Mandelslo ready to appreciate the life and char-

acter of the eastern people among whom he had
travelled. A close study of his diary makes us
endorse without hesitation the glowing testimonial
given to him by the President and council at Surat
when they describe him as ‘ the civillest, modestest,
and fairest behaved (gentleman) that we have ever
known of his age and education.’ ®

^ Mandelslo, op. cit., p. 285.

® English Factories in India (1637-41) edited by Foster, p. 118.

8

98 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

It was not to be expected that after such an
active and adventurous career in so many distant
Later career Countries of the world, Mandelslo

and death would be Satisfied with a humdrum

life in a small provincial town in the north of
Germany. We can, however, gather little about his
further career in Europe except the following
record by John Davies of Kidwelly in his preface
to the English translation of Olearius published
in 1662 ;

‘ Mandelslo . . . left the court of Holstein,
where he found not employment proportionable to
his merit, and, betaking himself to another profession,
he got into a regiment of horse, commanded by a
German, who, purely by his military accomplish-
ments, had raised himself to one of the greatest
dignities of France.^ He had therein the command

^ This was Josias, Comte de Rantzau, a German by nationality, who
entered the military service of France in 1635 nnder Richelien and soon
rose to the dignity of Marshal of France. He was a native of Holstein, a
fact which explains why Mandelslo came to attach himself to his regiment
on his return from his eastern travels. Marshal Rantzau was a man of
great courage (he lost an eye and a foot in the wars), and his consider-
able military gifts, coupled with an impressive appearance, made him a
favourite at the French court, which after 1642 was under the influence of
Cardinal Mazarin. He served under the great Cond6 in the final stage of
the Thirty Years' War ; took a leading part in the capture of Dunkirk
from Spain (1646) and was in charge of the ‘ Army of Flanders ' (1647).
In 1650 he was disgraced and imprisoned in the fortress of Vincennes on
an accusation of secret dealings with the Spaniards. Prince Cond€ and
the Marshal were often on bad turns partly owing to the latter's temper
and his inveterate habit of hard drinking, in connexion with which an
interesting story is recorded. When in 1639, in the early years of his
service in France, an insurrection broke out at Rouen in Normandy owing
to increased royal imposts, there was hesitation in the council of King
Louis XIII in choosing between Marshal Rantzau and M. de Gassion to

MANDELSO’S ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND 99

of a troop, and, being a person of much courage,
and endued with all the qualities requisite to the
making of a great man, was likely to have raised
himself to a more than ordinaryfortune when, coming
to Paris to pass away the winter, he there died of
the smallpox.’ ^

command the forces ordered to march into Normandy. ‘That country
yields no wine/ said the King : ‘ that will not do for Rantzau, or be good
quarters for him.’ And so Gassion, who was not so heavy a drinker as
Rantzau, was sent. — E. Godley, The Great Conde^ pp. 80-81, 171, 173, 202 ;
Guizot, History of France y translated by R. Black, voL IV, p. 83.

^ Olearius* Voyages and Travels of the AmbassadorSy translated by
J, Davies, London (1662) Preface.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER III

SHANTIDAS JHAVEM^S JAIN TEMPLE OF
CHINTAMANI IN SARASPUR AT AHMADABAD

Mandelslo's detailed account given in Chapter III is the
most complete description yet available of this famous temple
and it is, therefore, of great importance. The temple was built
in 1622, during the reign of the Emperor Jahangir, by
Shantidas Jhaveri, the foremost jeweller and banker in Gujarat
in the first half of the seventeenth century. Shantidas stood in
high favour at the courts of Jahangir and Shah Jahan, where he
was an honoured guest, and, according to historical tradition,
he received from the former the title of Nagarsheth or
Lord Mayor of Ahmadabad, which his descendants enjoy till
this day. The temple was dedicated to the Jain Tirthankar
Chintamani Parswanath and was for many years among the
sights of Ahmadabad.

Shantidas’s temple at Saraspur (a suburb to the east of
Ahmadabad) was unfortunately destined to pass through un-
happy vicissitudes. Mandelslo visited it in 1638, only seven years
before it received its fatal blow. In 1645-6 Prince Aurangzeb
was appointed viceroy of Gujarat by his father Shah Jahan, and
his religious bigotry, which was manifest at this early age, led
him to deseaate this beautiful shrine. According to Thevenot
(1666) he caused a cow to be killed in the place and then
converted it into a mosque, destroying at the same time the
noses of all the figures in the temple. The author of the
MiraH-Ahmadi says that the mosque received from the prince
the name of Quvvat-ul-I slam (the Might of Islam).

Shantidas may perhaps have complained about this
sacrilege to the court of Shah Jahan, where his influence was
most powerful. The result was the issue of a farman by the
emperor, dated 1648, addressed to the imperial governor

102 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

and officials at Ahmadabad, to the effect that a wall should
be raised between the mt/irabs constructed by Prince Aurang-
zeb and the rest of the temple and that the building should
again be handed over to Shantidas for the conduct of worship
according to his religion. Besides, the fakirs who had made
their home in the building were to be removed and any
materials that might have been carried away from the temple
were to be restored. The original of this valuable farman was
fifty years ago in the possession of the head of the Nagar-
sheth family at Ahmadabad, but now only an imperfect copy
of it, made under the directions of the late A. Kinloch Forbes,
is to be found among the manuscript records of the Forbes
Gujarati Sabha at Bombay.

According to tradition, after the Moslem desecration, the
principal images in the temple of Shantidas were brought
over to the city through an underground tunnel, which was
large enough for the passage of a cart, to the Jhaveriwada at
Ahmadabad, and installed in other temples which were erected
for them. This may be accepted without reserve for, in spite
of Shah Jahan's {arman, it was not likely that the devout
Jains would again proceed to worship in a place which had
been so desecrated by the Mogul prince. The language
used by Thevenot, who visited the city in 1666, gives the
impression that the building was no longer a Hindu shrine.
We may conclude then that from the third quarter of the
seventeenth century this magnificent structure began to fall
into neglect on the part of Jains as well as Moslems. In
the course of over 260 years that have elapsed since then, the
temple has suffered not less from the deliberate spoliation of
man than by the ravages of time. It is a matter of no small
regret that while the magnificent Moslem monuments of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries still remain in almost perfect
condition, this temple of Shantidas, built in the seventeenth
century, has practically disappeared.

APPENDIXES TO CHAPTER VII

(A) ACCOUNTS OF THE NEW COLLEGE OF ST. PAUL
GIVEN BY P. DELLA VALLE AND DR. JOHN FRYER

The Italian traveller, P. Della Valle, who was at Goa in
1623, says :

‘The Jesuits, I say, resolute to abide there, prevailing:
hitherto both against the City (which recalls them back to San
Paolo Vecchio for greater convenience of the students) and
against the Augustines, and against the King himself, who hath
many times ordained their removal and the destruction of
their new College, nevertheless maintain themselves in
possession of their new and sumptuous fabric, which also they
daily enlarge and nominate San Paolo Nuovo, for in India they
will have all their colleges dedicated to St, Paul, the Doctor of
the GentilesJ — Travels in India, Hakluyt Society (1892) vol.
II, p. 404.

The English surgeon Dr. John Fryer, who arrived at Goa
during Christmas week 1675, says :

‘ The Paulistines (i.e. Jesuits) enjoy the biggest of all the
monasteries at St. Roch ; in it is a library, an hospital, and an
apothecary's shop well furnished with medicines, where
Gasper Antonio, a Florentine, a lay-brother of the Order, the
author of the Goa stores, brings them in 50,000 xeraphins^ by
that invention annually : he is an old man, and almost bHnd,
being of great esteem for his long practice in physic. It (the
college) is built like a Cross and shows like a seraglio on

^ The word xeraphin represents a silver coin, formerly current at Goa
and other eastern ports, and worth about Is, 5d, The term is here a
corruption applied to a degenerated value. The original is the Arabic
ashrafi (or sharifi = noble) which was applied to various gold coins,
especially to the dinar of Egypt, and to the gold mohur of India. — cf.
Hobson- Jobson,

104 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

the Water/ — Fi'yer, East hidia and Persia^ Hakluyt Society
(1909-12) voL II, pp. 11-12.

(B) PYRARD DE LAVAL ON THE CHURCH OF
BOM JESUS, 1608-9

*It was richly built and all gilded within; it is not yet
complete, but the work is proceeding: day by day. I have seen
there a cross of solid gold, which the company of JevSuit
Fathers have had made for a present to the Pope : it was three
feet in length, four fingers in width, and two in thickness, and
embellished with all manner of precious stones richly set : it
was priced there at more than 100,000 crowns and was sent to
His Holiness by the vessel on which I embarked on my return.’
— Voyage oi Pyrard de Laval^ Hakluyt Society (1887) vol. 11,
p. 59.

(C) P. DELLA VALLEYS ACCOUNT OF THE CANON-
IZATION CEREMONIES OF ST. FRANCIS
XAVIER AT GOA IN 1624

The elaborate ceremonies of the canonization began at
Goa on 10 February 1624 and ended on 19 February, on which
day the body of the saint was transferred with great pomp from
St, Paul’s to the Church of Bom Jesus. On the first day the
Jesuits sang vespers in the Church of Bom Jesus and the
same night there was a masquerade in which young students
passed through the streets on horseback, clothed in rich
dresses, and carrying a standard which portrayed the effigies
of the saints. The next day (11th), after a solemn mass, a
sermon was delivered in the same church by the Visitor, Andrea
Palmeiro, at which the viceroy was present. A great theatre
had been erected in the piazza outside the church, with seats
all round both for men and women, in which was enacted for
several days together the life of St. Francis Xavier. Here on
the 12th, in presence of the viceroy, the nobility and the
people, the first act of the * Tragedy’ was represented by
some thirty persons, all richly clothed and decked with jewels,
who staged the play with an elaborate machinery of ‘ chariots,

105

APPENDIXES TO CHAPTER VII

ships, galleys, pageants,^ heavens, hells, mountains and clouds
The show depicted not only all the events of the saint’s
life, but also his death, the transport of his body to Goa,
his ascent to heaven, and lastly his canonization by the Pope.
On the 19th, which was the last day, a very solemn procession
started from the Church of San Paolo Vecchio (old St. Paul’s)
and proceeded to that of Bom Jesus with pageant, chariots,
ships and other ‘ brave devices At the rear of this procession
several Jesuit fathers, dressed in their copes, carried the body
of St. Francis Xavier enclosed in a fine and rich silver coffin
with a silver canopy over it and the effigy of the saint behind.
Then came a great standard bearing the effigies of the saints
which was also carried by the Fathers. Then came all the
crosses of the parishes in Salsette and lastly only one company
of Franciscan friars. This fraternity, we are told, did not join
the processions of the Jesuits because the latter did not attend
theirs. With this ended the solemnities of the canonization.
— Travels of P. Della Valle^ Hakluyt Society (1892) vol. II,
pp. 410-14.

(D) THE TOMB OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER IN THE
CHURCH OF BOM JESUS AT GOA

Neither Pyrard de Laval (1609) nor Pietro Della Valle
(1623-4), nor Mandelslo (1639), nor Dr. Fryer (1675), nor
GemeUi Careri (169S) saw the magnificent sarcophagus in the
chapel of St. Francis Xavier in which the remains of the
saint were enshrined soon after the visit of the last named
traveller. According to the author of the Oriente Conquisiado
it was a gift from the Grand Duke of Tuscany in return for a
pillow, on which the head of the saint reposed for many years
after his death, which was presented to the Duke by the
Provincial General of the Jesuits. The tomb, which is a very
beautiful example of Florentine workmanship, is made of rich

^ Pageant here means the movable structure or ‘ carriage*, consisting
of a st^e and stage machinery, used in the open-air performances of the
mystery plays.

9

106 MANDELSLO'S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

jasper and the finest marbles of variegated colours, and consists
of three tiers with plates or panels curiously wrought repre-
senting various incidents in the life of the saint. The whole is
surmounted by the far-famed coffin, overlaid with silver. It
has thirty-two panels in the same metal depicting in relief
scenes from the saint's career, and with figures of angels
supporting a beautiful cross two and a half feet high.

The body of the saint is still, after the lapse of nearly four
centuries, in a well-preserved state, though it has shrunk to
some extent, being only four and a half feet in length. The
right arm is wanting, having been cut off by order of the Pope
on 3 November 1614, and divided into four parts, the larger
of which was sent to Rome. Two of the toes of the right foot
are missing, one of them being bitten off in 1554, when being
kissed by a Portuguese lady who was anxious to possess a
relic of the saint. In 1556 a physician certified the body to be
still free from corruption and to yield blood. The saint is clad
in elegantly embroidered garments studded with pearls, the
gift of Maria Sofia, wife of Dorn Pedro II, King of Portugal,
who made them about the year 1693. At the feet of the saint
hangs a gold medalKon with legends on both sides.

The body of the saint was formerly very frequently
exposed for pubKc veneration by the Jesuits who had charge
of it. As late as Dr. Fryer's time (1675) this was done once a
year, generally on the day of the festival of the saint (3 Dec-
ember). Some years before Gemelli's visit in 1695 this practice
appears to have been stopped to prevent the danger of injury
to the body by the populace who would be eager to secure
some relic of the saint. Only the viceroy and a few other
persons of quality were allowed to see it. Even this privilege
was withdrawn by a royal letter dated 2 April 1755, and
since then the body is shown only by express orders from
the Gk)vernment of Portugal. This exposition has taken place
in 1782, 1859, 1878, 1910 and 1922. On all these occasions
a vast concourse of people of all races and creeds from several
parts of India assembled at Goa to honour the Apostle of the

APPENDIXES TO CHAPTER VII

107

Indies or to benefit by the miraculous cures which were believed
to be effected by his intercession. The old city of Goa appear-
ed on these occasions to have risen from its ruins and to have
recovered the glory which it displayed nearly three centuries
ago. — Fonseca, Sketch of Goa, pp. 290-300.

(E) PYRARD DE LAVAL S ACCOUNT OF THE ROYAL
HOSPITAL AT GOA

Pyrard de Laval, a Frenchman, was brought to Goa as a
prisoner in 1608 and was treated in this hospital for three
weeks. His account is the most detailed and exhaustive that
is available to us about the internal administration of this
famous institution. We give below extracts from the same.

* Viewing it from the outside we could hardly believe it
was an hospital ; it seemed to us a grand palace, saving the
inscription above the gate : Hospiiale del Rey Nostro Seignoro
(p. 3) ♦ , . . The beds are beautifully shaped and lacquered
with red varnish ; the sacking is of cotton ; the mattresses and
coverlets are of silk or cotton, adorned with different patterns
(p. 4) . . . In the evening they brought us supper at the
appointed hour, to each a large fowl roasted, with some
dessert, so we were astonished at the good cheer we received
(p. 5) . . . This hospital is, as I believe, the finest in the world,
whether for the beauty of the building and its appurtenances,
the accommodation being in all respects excellent, or for the
perfect order; regulation and cleanliness observed, the great
care taken of the sick, and the supply of all comforts that can
be wished for (p. 5) . . . It is of very great extent, situated on
the banks of the river, and endowed by the kings of Portugal
with 25,000 perdos (i.e. over ;^'5,000), let alone the endowments
and presents which it receives from the lords. This is a large
revenue for the purpose in those parts, seeing food is so cheap,
and the management so good ; for the Jesuits who carry it on
send as far as Cambay and elsewhere for wheat, provisions,
stuffs and all other necessaries (p. 6) , . . It is managed and
governed by the Jesuits, who appoint a Father to the post of

108 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

governor. The other officers are Portuguese, all men of
quality and gentility ; as for the servants and slaves, they are
Christian Indians. The Jesuit Father is superior over all the
rest, who are like the inmates of a large monastery, each
having his own office (p. 6) . . . There are physicians, surgeons
and apothecaries, barbers and bleeders, who do nothing else,
and are bound to visit each of the sick twice a day. The
apothecary is one of the household, and lives in the hospital,
and has his shop weU stocked at the hospital's expense (p. 6),
. , . The sick are sometimes very numerous, and while I
was there were as m^ny as 1,500, all of them either
Portuguese soldiers or men of other Christian races of
Europe, of every profession and quality. Indians are not
taken in there, having a hospital apart wherein are received
only Christian Indians (p. 7) • , . Two Jesuits, and more
if need be, are in attendance, who do nothing else but go
round confessing and comforting the sick, administering the
sacrament and giving them beads for saying their prayers
(p. 11) . . . No women are allowed to enter, sick or sound.
Nor are any householders received, neither men, women, nor
children. This hospital is only for the Soidades, that is, for
such as are not married or domiciled, but are soldiers of for-
tune (p. 12) , , . Sometimes they are visited by the
archbishop, the viceroy, and many lords, who make gifts to
them of large sums of money ; and everyone takes pleasure in
seeing so splendid a place, where all the rooms are clean and
white as paper (p. 12).^Voyage of Pyrard de Laval ^ Hakluyt
Society (1887) vol. II, pp, 3-lS.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER IX

WILLIAM BAYLEY'S ACCOUNT OF THE HOMEWARD
VOYAGE OF THE ‘MARY’^

It is interesting: to compare the dates and incidents in
Mandelslo^s account of the voyage with those given in the log
of the Mary, by William Bayley.^ The two are in substantial
agreement.

‘January 5, 1639. Sailed, Met the Michael, which departed
the same evening for Rajapur.

January 7, 1639. Anchored at Bassein, where they found
the Blessing.

January 10, 1639. Anchored oft Goa.

January 11, 1639. “ This morning came aboard us the
General and Vice-Admiral of the fleet, with divers other
gentlemen from the fleet and city. About ten o’clock the
President, etc., went ashore with the General, and so to the
city of Goa, where they were kindly entertained.”

January 22, 1639. Sailed for Cannanore, “ to relieve those
English captives as were of the Comfort, taken by the Malabars.”

January 25, 1639. Andiored at Cannanore, where they
found Captain Weddell.

January 26, 1639. Repaid Captain Weddell 2,200 rials of
eight, which he had spent in redeeming the master and fourteen
men of the Comfort from the Malabars.

January 30, 1639. Seventeen Malabar frigates attacked
the Mary, but were repulsed.

February 4, 1639. Passed Cape Comorin.

March 21, 1639. Fire in the steward’s room.

March 27, 1639. At a general consultation it was decided
to make for Mauritius to wood and water.

* Marine Records y vol. Ixii, p. 107.

^ He was master or captain of the Mary.

110 MANDELSLO^S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

March 28, 1639. Sighted Rodriguez. Another consulta-
tion held, at which it was unanimously decided to go direct to
the Cape of Good Hope.

April 5, 1639. Passed Cape Sebastian, on Madagascar.

April 28, 1639. Saw the African coast.

May 1, 1639. Cape Falso sighted.

May 5, 1639. Got into Table Bay.

May 11, 1639. Their boat carried twenty natives to Pen-
guin Island, there to reside.

May 30, 1639. Having had extremely bad weather, in
which the ship had suffered severely and had been beaten back
from the Cape, it was determined to bear up for Madagascar.

June 3, 1639. The wind changing, they stood for the
Cape once more.

June 10, 1639. After enduring another storm, and finding
the vessel very leaky, it was resolved to make for Madagascar
again.

June 24, 1639. Abraham Aldington fell overboard, but
was saved.

June 28, 1639. Overtook the William^ belonging to Cour-
teen’s Association and commanded by Edward Hall.

July 3, 1639. Anchored in St. Augustine^s Bay, and found
there the Lmidon, under Captain Wills, bound for Surat

August 21, 1639. The Mary sailed for England.

September 14, 1639. They estimated that they had doubl-
ed the Cape,

October 9, 1639. Thought they saw St. Helena, but, finding
that they had shot past the island, they resumed the voyage.

October 19, 1639. Crossed the Line.

November 7, 1639. Joseph, an Italian passenger, was put
in irons for wounding Emanuel Fonseca, a Portuguese.

November 29, 1639. Sighted some of the Azores.

December 16, 1639. Anchored in the Downs.

December 21, 1639. Methwold ** went away for London

December 26, 27, 1639. A severe storm,’

—English Factories in India (1637-41) edited by Foster, pp. 120-22.

INDEX

Abbas the Great, Shah of
Persia, 36 and

Abdurrahim Khan, at Fateh
Wadi, 47 and

Agates, 15 and n.

Agra, author at, 48-9 ; des-
cription of, 49 n,

Ahmadabad, described, 26-
30 ; trade of, 26.

Ali Mardan Khan, 36.

Ambergris, 27 and n.

Amsterdam, greatness of,
95-6,

Ankleswar, 14.

Antonio, Gasper, 103.

Apes, at Ahmadabad, 30.

Aquavitae, 72 and n.

Augustines, 103 ; monastery
of, at Goa, 71,

Aurangzeb, Prince, and tem-
ple of Shantidas, 24, 101-2 ;
directs siege of Daman,
57 n.

Azam Khan, Governor of
Ahmadabad, 31-40.

Baftas^ 15.

Bandar Abbas, 1.

Bandra, 58.

Barbosa, The Book of Duarte,
8 n.

Bardes, 77.

Baroda, 15-16.

Baschaban (? Bagh-i-Shaban),
29 and u,

Bassein, 58.

Bayley, William, master of
the Mary, 109.

Begumpur, suburb at Ahma-
dabad, 29.

Betel-nut, use of, 46, 80.

Bhadra castle, at Ahmada-
bad, 23.

Bka?ig, use of, 35.

Biggel, 72 and n.

Bills of Exchange, sold at
Ahmadabad, 28.

Blessing, the, 74 n, 109.

Bombay, 58.

Bom Jesus, Professed House
of, 65 and n, 69 ; Church
of, 66 and 7i, 104.

Brabant, 95.

Broach, described, 14-15.

Cambay, 15, 107; descrip-
tion of, 41-2.

Canary Isles, 90.

Cape of Good Hope, xvi,

86 , 110 .

Careri, Gemelli, 105-6.

Carracks, 73 and n, 74.

Casti^os, 77 and n.

Ceylon, 83-5.

Chapins, 79 n.

Charles I, 94.

City walls, of Ahmadabad,
23.

Comorin, Cape, 109.

Congo, Engdom of the, 90.

Customs’ house, at Surat, 2.

Daman, siege of, 57 and n.

Damn, 7, 8.

Dancing girls, executed by
Azam Khan, 38-40.

112 MANDELSLO’S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

Davies J., of Kidwelly, trans-
lator of Mandelslo's Tra-
vels^ X, xi and 98.

Della Valle, Pietro, Travels,
ed. E. Gray, 11 n, 103,
104r-5.

Downs, the, 91, 92, 110.

Dutch, in Gujarat, 10, 12 and
n, 18, 51-2; blockade Goa,
73, 75 ; East India House
at Amsterdam, 96-7.

East India Company, 93 and

n.

English, dress of, in Gujarat,
16, 33, 34.

English Factories in India,
ed. W. Foster, 6 n, 12 n,
20 n, 40 n, 54 n, 56 n, 57 n,
58 71 , 87 n, 88 n, 93 n, 97 n,
110 n.

Factory, English, at Surat,
3-5, 10, 52-3 ; at Abmada-
bad, 21.

Famine, of 1630-31, in Guja-
rat, 6 and n, 7.

Far East, xv, xvi, 83.

Farman, of Shah Jahan,
101 - 2 .

Fateh Wadi, near Sarkhej,
41, 47-8.

Fiador da Fazenda, 59 and n*

Fidalgos, 77 n,

Flanders, 95.

Fonseca, J. N., Sketch oi the
City of Goa, 62 n, 66 n,
67 n, 71 n, 80 n, 82 n, 106.

Forbes, A. Kinloch, 102.

Forbes Gujarati Sabha, 102,

Foster, Sir W., ed. English
Factories in India, q.v.

Franciscans, at Goa, 105.

Fremlen, William, 53,55,57 n.

Fryer, Dr. John, New Ac-
count of East India and
Persia, ed. W, Crooke,
xiv, 71 n, 75 n, 80 n, 103,
107.

Goa, xiv, 58 n, 75 n, 109 ;
trade of, 81-2; Hindu
physicians at, 82.

Goa stores, 103.

Godley, E., 99

Gopi Talav, at Surat, 11 mdn.

Gorgolettes, 79 and n.

Gottorp, in Holstein, 97.

Governor of Surat, 2-3 ; of
Ahmadabad, see Azam
Khan.

Guinea Coast, 90.

Gujarat, 6, 28; famine of
1630-31, 6 and n, 7 ; oxen,
20 mdn; De Wicquefort^s
interpolation on the pro-
vince of, 55 71.

Haarlem, 95.

Holland, United Provinces
of, 95.

Hobson-Jobson, 103.

Holstein, Duke of, ix, xii-
xiii, xvii, 94, 97.

Hospital, Roy^, at Goa, 70
and n, 107-8-

Indigo, produced at Jambu-
sar, 15 ; at Sarkhej, 29.

Interpolations, in Mandel-
slo's Travels, xv, xix-xx,
49 71, 55 n.

Isanpur, 19.

Ispahan, ix, xvii, 1.

Jain, temple of Chintamani,
at Ahmadabad {see Shanti-
das) ; shopkeepers, 46.

INDEX

113

Jambusar, 15 and n.

Japan, Christians persecuted
in, 65.

Jesuits, at Goa, xiv, 62 and
n, 63-4, 66-9, 84, 1034:,
105, 107-8.

Jhaveriwada, at Ahmadabad,

102 .

Jitbagf {see Fateh Wadi).

Kanij, 19.

Kankaria Tank, 19, 29.

Kathodra, 14 and n,

Kazilbashis, 37 and n, 38.

King^s Evil, 94 and 7i.

Kothawala, N. R., 47 n.

Lac, produced in Gujarat, 16.
and 71, 17.

Lahore, Mandelslo at, 49.

Laylmi, 81, 82 n.

Leilcu), 82

Linschoten, J. Huyghen van,
his Voyages, trans. and ed.
Burnell and Tiele, 80 n,

London, the, 110.

Madagascar, 86, 87-8, 110.

Maffaeus, Joan. P., Historia-
rum Indicarum Libri,
XX and n,

Maidan Shah, at Ahmada-
bad, 22.

Mahi, the, 17.

Mahmudabad, 19.

Mahmudis, 27 and n.

Malabar, pirates of, 109.

Mandelslo, John Albert de,
his Travels into the Indies,
first English ed. trans. by
J. Davies (1662) v-vi,
ix~xx; second English ed.
(1669); French trans. by
De Wicquefort, xi and n ;

value of the Travels, xiv,
56 ; credibility of the
Travels, x-xv.

Mandelslo, John Albert de,
age of, ix, 33; literary
testament of, xi-xii, xix;
character of, 56 n, 97;
death of, xiii, xix, 98;
views of, on Indian
character, 45 ; knows Tur-
kish, xix, 33 ; witnesses
a saii ceremony, 44 ; use
of the astrolabe by, xix;
dress of, during his travels,
33, 34.

Mandelslo, Madam Lucy
Catherine {nie de Man-
delslo), sister of the tra-
veller, xiii, xiv.

Mangas de velludo, 79 and
n*

Maria Sofia, 106.

Mary, the, xiv, 55, 85 ; log
of, 10940.

Maurice Island (Mauritius),
85 and n.

Mayor, Lord, of London, 93.

Mestizos, 77 and n, 78.

Methwold, William, Presi-
dent of Surat factory, xiv,
3, 49, 50, 52, 53 n, 55, 57,
58 and n, 724 and n, 85-8,
92-3.

Michael, the, 74 n, 109.

Mir Musa (Muiz-ul-Mulk),
governor of Surat, 54i n,
57

Mirali-Ahmadi, 101.

Mirza Beg, 44.

Mogul, the Great, and Shah
of Persia compared, 37;
garrison at Vasad, 17-19.

Moreland, W. H., 6 n.

Moslems, at Surat, 9-10.

114 MANDELSLO^S TRAVELS IN WESTERN INDIA

Nagarsheth, of Ahmadabad,

101 .

Naites (Navayats), 7 and n.

Olearius, Adam, ix~xx
passim, 90, 99 n ; Preface
to his Eng. trans. xvii~xx.

Oriente Coriquisiado^ 105,

Osorio, Jeronymo, xx and

71 .

Ovington, J,, Voyage to
Surat ^ ed, Rawlinson, 1 n.

Pageant, 104-5 and n.

Palace, royal, at Ahmadabad,
23.

Pattens, 79 n.

Parswanath, temple of, at
Ahmadabad, 101.

Paulistines, 103.

Pedro da Silva, viceroy of
Goa, 59 75.

Perron, Anquetil du, 65 n.

Portuguese, at Goa, xiv;
use of pan by, 46 ; their
pride, 77 and n\ social
decline of, 78-82.

Presidents, at English factory
of Surat, see Methwold,
Fremlen ; change of, 52-4.

Professed House, 65 and

Pyrard de Laval, Voyage of,
trans. and ed. by Gray and
Bell, 59 Tt, 60 7i, 73 75 ?z,

76 72, 77 72, 78 7z, 79 «, 80 ti,
81 72, 82 71, 104, 107—8.

Quvmi-ul-Islam, 101,

Rajputs, 13 and n, 51-2.

Rander, 7 and n.

Rantzau, Comte Josias de,
Marshal of France, xiii,
98 72 .

Rials of Eight, 109.

Robbers, on highways, 28,
41, 50-52.

Roberts, Benjamin, 20 and n,

21 .

Roe, Sir Thomas, 2 n.

Rua Direita, 82 7/.

Safi, Shah, of Persia, 36
and 7u

Saltpetre, export of, prohi-
bited, 28

Sankheda, 16 and 72.

Saraspur, 101,

Sarkhej, 29.

Saii, Mogul policy towards,
42-3; ceremony at Cam-
bay, 43-4.

Saiyasio kal, 6 and 72, 7*

Shah Jahan, 101.

Shantidas Jhaveri, his temple
at Ahmadabad, 23-25 ;
101 - 2 .

Shirvan, province of, 36.
Shuja, I^ce, 32.

Silks, manfacture of, 26-7,
Slavery, in Goa, 80-81 and n,
82.

Smith, Vincent A., on
Mandelslo’s Travels, x
and 72, XV.

Sojitra, 19 and 72, 41, 46.
Soldades, 108.

St. Augustine’s Bay, 87,

no.

St. Helena, 89-90, 110.

St, Paul, New College of, at
Goa, 62 and 72,63, 103^;
Old College of, 62 72, 103,
St. Roch, Convent of, 103,
Strafford, Lord, 94.

Surat, described, 8-11.

Suvali (Swally), xi, 2, 9, ^

11 .

INDEX

115

Tavernier, J. B., Travels in
India, trans. by Ball, 26
60 ? 2 , S2n, 70 ?i, 73 n, 76
77 nj 80 n.

Tea, use of, 1 and

Thevenot, Jean de, Travels
into the Indies, txans. by
A. Lovell, on the Maidan
Shah at Ahmadabad, 22 n ;
on the temple of Shantidas
24 n, 102 ; on Mogrtil
policy towards sati, 43 n.

Tirthankars, 25 and n.

Toddy, 8.

Tories (or Highwaymen), 13
and n.

Trade, of Ahmadabad, 26 ;
of Goa, 81, 82.

Travel, in Gujarat, conditions
of, 52.

Travels of the Ambassadors,
by Adam Olearius, ix,
xi n, xvii.

Van Keulen, 74 and n.

Vasad, 17, 18, 50.

Vatva, 19.

Viceroy of Goa, xiv, 59 n,
60 and ?i, 75 and n, 76 and
n, 77 ; his guards, 60 n,

Wicquefort, A. de, French
translator of Mandelslo^s
Travels x, xi and n, xvi,
XX, 83-4, 90.

Willis, Captain, 88.

William, the, 110.

Women, Portuguese, their
dress and manners, 78-80.

Xavier, St. Francis, 66 n,
67 n\ account of, by
Maffaeus, 68; career of
69 n', canonization cere-
monies at Goa, 104-5 ;
tomb of, 105-7.

Xeraphins, 103 and

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